Lucky is a simple but profoundly moving portrait of humanity in fractious post-apartheid South Africa. The tale is woven around a 10-year-old rural boy called Lucky who loses his mother to Aids. He travels from his remote Zulu village to the city of Durban, nurturing hopes of going to school and making something of himself. But the selfish, dishonest uncle he turns to for help stonewalls him. Lucky strays into the home of an elderly Indian woman, Padma, The two do not understand each other's language and Padma makes no bones about her innate distrust of black people. Eventually, she takes Lucky in as she would a stray dog. However, Padma's motives are not entirely pure. She uses Lucky to obtain a government orphan grant worth two hundred rand a month. When Lucky's scheming uncle finds out, he yanks him out of school, steals the grant money and assaults Padma. But Padma manages to rescue Lucky and take him back to his rural Zulu village. But the village residents are, at the very least, indifferent to Lucky's return. There's no place for him there, now. There is a glimmer of hope, however, when Padma learns that Lucky's father may still

alive. Together they go on an emotional journey to see if this man will take Lucky in. They develop an unlikely and unique bond, which leads to a potentially promising and unexpected future. Despite all the odds, love triumphs over decades of racial segregation.