This book describes and explores family stress, sibling rivalry and the practice of polygamy as it existed in Ghana of the 1960s and 70s, as well as the interaction of the local religion with Christianity and how they influence one another.

The novel tells the story of Safia, the youngest daughter of a fractured polygamous family in Ghana, West Africa. She was born in the house of her maternal grand father who was the village chief. Thus, most of her earliest memories consisted of some dramatic events in her grand father’s life. Her rural life was peaceful and happy until age eleven when things changed drastically, and for the worse. As a result of her mother’s sudden illness Safia was "forced" to spend the next four years in her father's house with her stepmother and stepsiblings. There, she was tormented, humiliated and isolated by her oldest stepsister. The book describes the young girl's attempt to cope with her tragedies while trying to learn and understand the local traditions, customs and beliefs, and how they conflicted with the Christian beliefs she was learning at school.