Taking Stock begins as a documentary about a South African family business which is failing, and the shopkeeper who is trying to save it. The shopkeeper is the filmmaker's father, and the business has been in the family since the 1940s, beginning as a grocery store, growing eventually into a mom-and-pop version of Ikea. Starting as a story about business, the film eventually develops into a personal, sometimes funny reflection on generational change. During one month in business, a complete financial cycle, we learn about the particular relationships between family business and family, community and country, as the filmmaker and his father talk about life and legacy. This film is a unique perspective on a universal theme; Africa as we are not used to seeing it, and family business as millions of people around the world know it.