In Nice Life, Dirty War, a British couple with their two young children leave dreary, postwar Britain in 1952 and emigrate to Kenya in the hope of a better life. But the British empire is in terminal decline and they arrive just as the Mau Mau rebellion against colonial rule is breaking out. A cycle of atrocity and brutal repression sets in and the Cook family are constantly on the move, seeking safety and a secure livelihood. When the rebels are finally defeated and tens of thousands of Africans are herded into prison camps, the family settles down into a happy, adventurous life in the sunshine. But independence is inevitably approaching, and uncertainty about their future is settled by a sudden personal tragedy. Seen through the eyes of a child, but framed by adult knowledge, this is a story about the last hurrah of the empire, when a community of about 50,000 white settlers hung on to their privileged life until the bitter end.