From the begining of her life eighteen year-old Belinda has struggled hard against the immorality, oppressions and crime prevalent in the Nigerian society in which she lives. Her mother dead and her father a drunk, she chooses to work as a riceseller rather than become a prostitute. Her search for truth and spiritual development leads her through traumatic experiences. Through poverty she learns self- reliance, through physical and psychic battles with a friend in a polygamous marriage she learns to trust in her own strength. And when Chief Ojo offers her family freedom and marriage into riches Belinda must decide between the boy she loves and marrying a man for money, and her family's survival.