Esi lives and works in Accra, the thriving capital city of Ghana. She works in the Department of Urban Statistics as a Data Analyst. Needing to make some business-related travel arrangements, she drives to the offices of Linga Hideaway Travel, where she happens to meet the company's CEO. His name is Ali Condey, and he is widely considered eligible. He is a handsome, erudite man, and the there is an instant spark of attraction between them. Ali offers Esi a ride home after taking care of all her travel needs, but since she drove herself to the travel agency, she declines, and drives home again.
The pleasant exchange with Ali is the highlight of Esi's day; her home life is contentious, and she and her husband Oko fight all the time, mainly because Oko is a traditional man who does not deal well with a wife who works outside the home. Oko wants to have another child but Esi refuses, which angers him, and prompts him to tell her that, because she is so dedicated to her job, he is becoming a laughingstock among his friends. In his anger, he grabs hold of her, overpowers her and rapes her. Afterwards, he does not apologize but merely leaves the room. Esi knows that he has raped her, although there is no such concept as a husband raping his wife in Ghana. She knows that she has no choice but to leave him and seek a divorce.
Esi's best friend Opokuya is also a working woman, a wife and a mother, and her marriage is beginning to show the same cracks. Her needs are always seen as secondary; working as a nurse, she often needs the car to travel to work, but her husband Kubi always takes it instead. This sums up their entire marriage; all of Kubi's needs are seen as more important than Opukuya's. Opukuya and Esi meet for a drink to talk about Esi's divorce, and whilst they are in the bar Ali appears. Ali has been showering Esi with gifts, despite the fact he is already married to his childhood sweetheart Fusena. Fusena gave up her dreams of further education, and any hope of a career, when they married, and instead became a stay-at-home-mother because Ali ordered her to. Despite the fact he is married, Ali and Esi begin an affair.
Ali is a Muslim who believes strongly in polygamy. He proposes to Esi, and she accepts, but she has trepidation about the polygamous union she is about to enter into. As tradition dictates, Ali goes to visit Esi's family to discuss the marriage, but they reject him, because instead of bringing along another member of his family, he brings a co-worker. This forces him to speak to his mother and grandmother about adding a second wife to his marriage, and they agree to vouch for him. Esi's family are not at all happy about her divorce, and even less happy about her decision to re-marry and assume the role of Wife Number Two, but they have raised her to think independently, and they support her because it is what she wants to do.
Esi and Ali's wedding is very simple, with no frills, and afterwards, Esi goes home alone. New Year's Eve, traditionally a time of celebration and hope, is anything but in Esi's household. Ali goes to her house before going home to his family, and whilst he is there, Oko arrives with Oguaanowa. The men get into a fist fight, and Esi grabs her daughter and runs, eventually arriving at Opokuya's house. She tells her best friend what has happened, and her husband, Kubi, goes back to Esi's house to see what has happened there. Both men have gone, and when he catches up with Oko at Oko's mother's house, he sees that he has hardly a scratch on him.
Six months later Esi accompanies Ali to his home village, and the trip is a huge success. On hearing about Esi and Ali's intention to marry her, they rejected her without getting to know her at all, but after spending this vacation time with her, they cannot help but love her. The trip suggests to Esi that they might begin spending more time together but oddly it has the opposite effect. When they return Ali hardly comes to her house at all, choosing to spend his after-work hours with his new, young, pretty secretary. Esi is incredibly lonely; even her daughter is angry with her, and she begins to abuse sleeping pills, just to make it through the day. On New Year's Day Ali arrives at her house with a gift - a flashy sports car. Esi feels like she is being bribed, thrown a bone to keep her quiet. Ali leaves as soon as he has given her the car and Esi drives it over to Opokuya's house. Her friend is very jealous about the car, and Esi feels awkward about telling her that she is not pleased to receive it, and that it has made her feel like a bought and kept woman. She gives Opokuya her old car.
Ali doesn't change and continues to send her expensive gifts from all over the world, but they do nothing to make her feel less lonely and abandoned. Esi tells Ali that the relationship is just not working for her, and she cannot carry on in this way any longer. They remain friends, and even occasionally lovers; they never divorce, and Ali never changes, traveling widely, and having affairs with other women wherever he goes.
