Eager for adventure Miranda Neal joins the Peace Corps and accepts the challenge of teaching primary school in newly independent Lubame. From the minute she steps into the West African tropics, with its thrumming, in-your-face culture, every experience conspires to transform her good intentions into misunderstandings. With the help of her friends she learns to adjust and embrace the present and decided ambiguous reality. Falling in love expands her confidence only to compound her misdemeanors until she finds herself accused of being a witch and entangled on the wrong side of powerful political forces that destroy all around her.