The movie was based on a short story called "Simunye". It was written by real life Piper Dellums. It was about a South African girl named Carrie coming to stay with her family. Dellums writes that she lost contact with Carrie after she returned to South Africa. She does not know what happened to her. In "Simunye", Piper believed that Carrie was murdered for her anti-racist views.