Ezeulu watches for the new moon and eats a sacred yam, performing his duties as Chief Priest of Ulu.

Umuaro votes to go to war with Okperi, overriding Ezeulu's warning that Ulu will not fight an unjust war.

Akukalia breaks an Okperi elder's sacred ikenga during negotiations and is shot dead in retaliation.

Winterbottom intervenes to stop the war, seizes all guns from both sides, and awards the disputed land to Okperi.

Ezeulu testifies on behalf of Okperi at Winterbottom's hearing, siding against his own village in the land dispute.

Ezeulu sends his son Oduche to the Christian mission school to learn the white man's language and ways.

Oduche locks a sacred royal python in a box, planning to let it suffocate and prove his Christian faith.

The Festival of the Pumpkin Leaves unites all six villages of Umuaro in a ceremony of purification.

Wright strikes Obika with a cane at the British road construction site for arriving late and drunk.

A Court Messenger arrives at Ezeulu's compound with a written summons from Winterbottom in Okperi.

Winterbottom falls dangerously ill while Ezeulu awaits judgment in Okperi, leaving Clarke in charge.

Clarke offers Ezeulu the role of Paramount Chief of Umuaro and Ezeulu refuses, saying he serves only Ulu.

Ezeulu refuses to call the New Yam festival, insisting the remaining sacred yams from the previous year have not been eaten.

Obika collapses and dies after carrying the Ogbazulobodo spirit through the village while gravely ill.

Desperate villagers abandon Ulu and convert to Christianity in order to freely harvest their starving crops.

Ezeulu, Chief Priest of Ulu, leads his community through a period of increasing colonial pressure as Winterbottom's administration forces itself into village affairs. His decision to testify for Okperi during the land dispute earns him bitter enemies at home and a complicated relationship with British authority. When Winterbottom summons him to accept a chief's role, Ezeulu's proud refusal lands him in detention and disrupts the sacred yam calendar that governs the harvest. His insistence on following tradition while his people face famine pushes Umuaro to a breaking point that no elder can resolve. Obika's sudden death during a ritual duty shatters Ezeulu entirely, sending him into madness and leaving the village without its spiritual anchor. The villagers, desperate to harvest their crops, abandon Ulu and convert to Christianity, marking the irreversible collapse of traditional authority.

The rise and fall of Ezeulu's authority in Umuaro.

Ezeulu rebukes Edogo for carving a forbidden image of a god for a man in another village.

Obika kidnaps and nearly kills Akueke's abusive husband Ibe, dragging him bound from his village to Umuaro.

Ezidemili, the priest of Idemili, and Nwaka forge a close alliance and become Ezeulu's mortal enemies.

Ezeulu opens Oduche's locked carpenter's box and finds a sacred royal python alive but exhausted inside.

Winterbottom receives orders from headquarters about indirect rule and decides to appoint Ezeulu as Paramount Chief.

Akueke agrees to return to her husband Ibe after her family mediates the dispute at Ezeulu's compound.

Obika and his friend arrive hours late to the road site after being tricked into drinking herb-laced palm wine.

Moses Unachukwu warns the young road laborers that there is no escape from the white man's expanding power.

Winterbottom reveals to Clarke over dinner his plan to appoint Ezeulu as Paramount Chief of Umuaro.

British policemen threaten Ezeulu's family with handcuffs and eat their food before departing for Okperi.

Ezeulu's family panics when Obika arrives home alone from Okperi with no news of his detained father.

Clarke releases Ezeulu from detention on his own authority, without waiting for Winterbottom's approval.

Ezeulu walks home through a dangerous rainstorm, energized and bitter, consumed by thoughts of revenge.

Ezeulu bitterly rebukes Oduche for abandoning him and calls him a lizard that ruined his mother's funeral.

Winterbottom recovers in England, returns to Okperi, and marries his doctor, never hearing of Ezeulu again.

Away from the headline turning points, the everyday conflicts within Ezeulu's family and the colonial compound quietly shape the novel's world. Obika's reckless temper and chronic drinking create repeated crises for his father, while Oduche's deepening commitment to Christianity widens family divisions and enrages the village. In the British camp, Winterbottom and Clarke maneuver for authority, with Winterbottom's sudden illness handing the crisis of Ezeulu's detention to an inexperienced subordinate. The policemen's brutality against Ezeulu's household while he is held captive reveals how colonial authority trickles harmfully into village life. Ezeulu returns home changed—bitter, isolated, and then humbled by his god. These secondary threads weave together to show how relationships between fathers and sons, officers and subordinates, and husbands and wives all reflect the larger collapse of order.

The household conflicts and colonial maneuvers behind the main crisis.

Ezeulu feels bitter after his prayer to Ulu, believing his village is divided because he told the truth to Winterbottom.

Ezeulu warns the stunned village elders that Umuaro is challenging its own chi by pushing ahead with war after Akukalia's death.

Ezidemili sends a young messenger to ask how Ezeulu plans to purify his compound of Oduche's python abomination.

John Goodcountry teaches Christian converts in Umuaro that killing a sacred python is the ultimate test of faith.

Edogo overhears men in the street warning that Ezeulu's actions will bring double disaster upon Umuaro.

Akuebue tells Ezeulu that the people of Umuaro blame him for betraying the village to the white man.

Akuebue warns Ezeulu that Edogo fears the priesthood succession is being manipulated to favor the youngest son Nwafo.

Detained in Okperi, Ezeulu has a vision of his grandfather being ignored by rebellious village elders.

Nwafo sits in his father's place and nearly beats Ezeulu's sacred ogene drum before stopping himself.

Ogbuefi Ofoka visits Ezeulu after his return to express the village's confusion about his shifting attitude toward white men.

Ulu speaks directly to Ezeulu, demanding to know who told him the quarrel with Nwaka was his own fight.

Obika's wedding ceremony takes place and a diviner predicts his new wife Okuata will bear him nine sons.

Village leaders offer to bear all divine punishment themselves if Ezeulu will agree to eat the sacred yams early.

Goodcountry announces that villagers who bring offerings to God can harvest their crops freely without fear of Ulu.

Obika's death drives Ezeulu into madness, leaving him unable to comprehend why Ulu would strike him down.

Arrow of God is built on a series of turning points in which characters make decisions whose consequences they cannot foresee. Ezeulu's early awareness that his village is divided by his honesty before Winterbottom sets him on a path of proud isolation, and his enemies exploit every crisis to erode his standing. His son Oduche's actions against the python and Edogo's secret alliance with Nwaka reveal how deeply family loyalty has fractured under colonial and religious pressure. A vision in detention and Ulu's direct rebuke force Ezeulu to question whether his choices have been divinely guided or driven by personal pride. The village leaders' desperate offer to absorb divine punishment themselves shows how far traditional structures have bent under the weight of famine. Finally, the Christian church's promise of a free harvest bypasses Ezeulu entirely, completing the transfer of spiritual authority from Ulu to the new religion.