The play begins with Alu and Makuri in their hut in a village in the swamps of Africa. They are waiting for their son Igwezu to come back to the house after his return from the city where he and his wife set out in order to make money. Igwezu has a twin brother who lives in the city, and Alu believes he is dead. A blind Beggar then arrives at Makuri and Alu's home, and they give him drink and wash his feet. The Beggar explains that he is in search of a patch of land for himself in the swamp, a place that no one will touch because they believe it is too far gone so that he can make it fertile to grow food once more. But Makuri tells him that the parts of the swamp that are not used by the villagers belong to the Serpent of the Swamp as a sacrifice to this diety to keep it from consuming the land that does produce food for the people.
The priest of the village, Kadiye arrives at their home. Makuri and Alu believe he is there to speak to Igwezu, their son who has just returned, but in fact Kadiye is there for a shave. He has forgone shaving his beard and showering while their land was flooded as a sacrifice to the Serpent of the Swamp, and he want Igwezu to shave him, not Makuri who is an old man whose hands shake. So, Kadiye leaves to circumsise a baby and tells them he will return.
Igwezu then comes into his childhood home where we learn that he has been wandering the swamps all day, and saw Kadiye coming to the hut and decided to wait until he left to come inside. Immediately the Beggar calls Igwezu his master, saying that he will be his bondsman for life. We learn that Igwezu lost all of his money in the city, a place where people go and make mountains of money compared to the poverty of the village. Igwezu has even gone into deb and his wife left him for his twin brother.
When Kadiye returns Igwezu begins to shave him. During the shave Igwezu asks the priest if he offered all of the sacrifices he gave him for surety of wealth in the city, and for his marriage to be unified and grow prosperous. Igwezu believes Kadiye to have been eating the sacrifices given to him rather than offering them all up to the Serpent of the Swamp. This is something that the Beggar caught onto in Kadiye's previous visit, though the Beggar is blind who could hear that the priest was a fat man, well fed.
Igwezu threatens Kadiye with the knife so close to his throat, even stating his unbelief that the priest never showered during the floods as he must have stepped out into the rains. Kadiye never admits his stealing the sacrifices for himself, but his two servants that came in with him run out of the hut as if they know the truth of their master's wicked ways and desire to keep their lives. By the end of Igwezu's accusations everyone believes he will kill the priest, but he does not. He lets him go.
And Igwezu knows that Kadiye will have the entire village after his head. He knows he must leave the village at once and never return. The Beggar desires to go with him as a guide, but he won't allow him to cross the swamps with him. Igwezu must leave his village, alone.
