The title narrates the events in the life of an Afrikaner man living in Yeoville, Johannesburg. After fourteen years in the same job, he seeks release from the boredom of day-to-day existence in Hillbrow's bars and brothels. Although living with his black girlfriend and her son, he writes obsessively about his frequent interactions with prostitutes, most of them immigrants from other African countries. The narrative, presented in the form of a confessional journal, is interspersed with poetic memories of his Calvinist South African childhood and observations on a changing country as he travels to Cape Town and Pietermaritzburg. Haunting and shocking, Midnight Missionary provides a gritty and honest portrait of urban life in post-apartheid South Africa.