The film's title is taken from the name given to the women whose men work as migrant labourers in the goldmines of South Africa. The men (from Lesotho, a small mountainous country surrounded by South Africa) have over the last 100 years worked these most dangerous mines and due to Apartheid laws the women and children must remain behind, thus leaving them with the daily organisation of life.

The film focuses on the lives of four women, whose stories of survival are told with a humour and tenacity that belies the inhuman effects of an oppressive system.