Would nature accept a eukaryotic cell that lacks a Golgi complex during a major part of its life cycle? Here, George Banting, Jurgen Benting and Klaus Lingelbach review recent morphological and biochemical data on the asexual intraerythrocytic stages of the protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum. They argue that these data may indicate that some stages of the life-cycle of this highly specialized organism lack a 'classical' Golgi complex.