Wild at Heart is the story of an English family who move to the South African bush to set up and run a game reserve. In the beginning of the series, tensions run high, as Danny, a veterinarian who has been widowed, has recently married for second time to Sarah, and teenage daughter Rosie is resentful.
To attract richer clients to Leopard’s Den, Sarah and Caroline invest in Luxury Lodges. But it all goes wrong when they spend too much; Danny can’t afford to mend the fences and a disease spreads from Mara and starts to kill his stock.
Family feuds when new students turn up to train with Danny, and Sarah fires her own mother. Caroline goes to work for Mara, Rosie quits and Danny can’t cope. On a game drive Caroline is attacked by lions which brings her back into the family fold.
Elephant numbers are outgrowing Leopard’s Den but the new owner of Mara encourages Danny to think big. He wants the two parks to merge. Du Plessis discovers that his family is growing but spreading wings.
Danny’s past catches up with him when another vet makes him tow the animal activist line. Caroline and Du Plessis go off to the bushvelt festival to replenish the wildebeest stocks, but Caroline finds camping not her style.
A mythical white lion comes to Leopard’s Den and Amy Kriel brings a little Essex to Africa. The White Lion is captured by poachers and Caroline is suspected of unwittingly helping by showing it to a journalist.
Rosie can’t tell Danny or Sarah what she and Max are up to, and the drought is affecting everyone except Caroline’s sister who causes trouble for the family. Danny’s hospital plans falter and he decides to sell animals to pay for drilling equipment.
Max’s parents are from old South Africa and don’t approve of the wedding. The omens are bad when Max sees the bride before the wedding. The drought continues and a fire threatens the marriage, the hospital and the house.
The hospital is lost in the fire, but the animals are now in danger of being trapped in the flames. Disaster strikes and the family has to decide what it can do in the face of tragedy. Africa has been their saviour and now could be their undoing.
