Monife goes shopping for Ebun and encounters her ex-boyfriend, Kalu, at the supermarket. She notices his wedding ring. They exchange awkward greetings, and he helps her select plantain chips. He pays for her groceries and drives her home in silence. As she exits, he places a single Haribo heart candy in her palm before driving away.

Monife keeps the encounter secret, replaying it privately. Two weeks later, Kalu appears at her house, confessing he’s missed her. With her family out, she lets him inside. They discuss his complicated marriage. In the narrow hallway, overwhelmed by his scent, she kisses his neck. He kisses back with tears in his eyes. They have sex on the staircase. Ebun walks in and asks about his wife, Amara, and daughter. Monife, stunned to learn he has a child, tells him to leave.

Ebun confronts Monife, who denies sleeping with Kalu. They argue about him being married. Monife fires back by referencing Ebun’s pregnancy. Kemi arrives home and senses tension. Ebun starts to tell her about the encounter, but Monife threatens her into silence. Ebun instead lies about seeing an old school friend. Alone, Monife cries into Sango’s fur.

When the house is empty, Monife calls Kalu. They have sex, and she guides him on how to please her. He says he can’t resist her. She suppresses anger and asks if he’s happy in his marriage. He admits his wife deserves everything, but he misses Monife. When he tries to pull away, she holds him with her thighs. He falls asleep in her arms, and she pretends they’re a married couple.

For Monife’s gloomy 25th birthday, they have dinner at a Chinese restaurant. During the meal, Kemi confronts Ebun about the baby’s father, insisting a child should know their father. Monife makes a crude remark and is scolded. Back home, she checks the answering machine hoping for a message from Kalu. There are no new messages.

During their 11th rendezvous over two months, Kalu expresses guilt about the affair. Monife tells him she accepts all of him. He hates making her a mistress and says she deserves more. She insists she’s happy and warns him not to speak for her. He says they shouldn’t continue. He notes she hasn’t asked if he’s leaving his wife. Monife replies she never thought he was Amara’s to begin with.

On a hot day, Sango leads Monife to a dying lizard with a bright orange head. She holds it until it dies, then cries. She convinces Tolu and Ebun to help her bury it near the iroko tree, opposite from where she buried Kalu’s gifts. She says a prayer over the small grave. In her room, Monife washes blood from her hands.

Monife meets Kalu at a boat club to tell him she’s pregnant. His tentative question about whether she wants to keep it shatters her fantasy. He reveals Amara is also pregnant. Monife feels foolish, realizing he’s still sleeping with his wife. They argue about birth control. He vaguely promises to stand by her if she keeps it, but she doesn’t believe him. Turning away to hide tears, she sees a woman in a yellow shirt by the water who then vanishes.

Monife is summoned to the living room where Kalu’s wife, Amara, and mother, Mrs. K, are waiting. Mrs. K reveals Kalu told them about Monife’s pregnancy and demands she terminate it. Monife refuses. Bunmi gently suggests she consider it, but Monife silences her with a stare. Amara threatens that if Monife keeps the baby, Kalu will never see it, and the child’s life will be difficult. Ebun shouts for them to stop and tells the visitors to leave. Later, Kalu calls apologizing; Monife hangs up.

At 8:00 pm, Ebun tells Monife she’s terminating her pregnancy that night and invites Monife to join her. Monife initially refuses, saying she could never abort her and Kalu’s baby, but at 10:00 pm she is waiting for Ebun in the hallway. They sneak to a nondescript house where a woman takes cash and gives them tablets to dissolve in water. On the silent ride home, they don’t speak. Monife locks herself in the bathroom and drinks the bitter mixture.

Monife feels sharp pain and loses the pregnancy. Kemi finds her weeping. Monife is taken to the hospital, then home to bed. She calls Kalu, who offers money but says he must honor his marriage vows. Monife curses him. Over the next weeks, Monife remains semi-comatose, refusing to eat. Bunmi tells her she’s young and can have another child. Monife is convinced she’ll never get pregnant again.

Two months later, Monife notices Ebun has gained weight in her midsection. She asks if Ebun is still pregnant. In a small voice, Ebun admits she couldn’t go through with the termination and apologizes. Monife lets out a long, continuous scream.

Late at night, an okada driver drops Monife at a beach and warns her it’s unsafe. She sends him away. Alone, she thinks of the note she left asking her family to care for Sango “and that she would see them all in another life. Death was not the end” (318). She takes off her shoes and walks into the ocean.

This section frames Monife’s story as a tragic fairy tale: Descended from the cursed Feranmi, she falls in love with Golden Boy, but a wicked queen’s prejudice poisons everyone. The curse claims another victim.

The night before meeting Zubby’s parents, Eniiyi develops a high fever with visions of Monife. Next afternoon, she arrives at a large house. Zubby’s father, a handsome man with golden skin, enters and, after seeing Eniiyi, whispers Monife’s name. She realizes he’s Golden Boy—Kalu. He admits he loved Monife. Zubby returns with his mother Amara, who mistakes Eniiyi for Monife and physically attacks her, slapping and scratching. The men intervene, and Amara storms out.

In Zubby’s jeep, Eniiyi questions whether their meeting was coincidence, fearing she’s being manipulated by Monife’s spirit. Zubby insists he’s not his father and she’s not Monife. He promises to stay by her side and asks her to trust him.

Eniiyi takes Ebun to Elegushi beach. To force a confession, she walks backward into the ocean. Ebun admits this is where Monife died. Eniiyi asks who she truly is—herself or Monife. Ebun insists she’s herself but retreats to the car. Over eight days, Eniiyi isolates herself, drinks to avoid dreams, and shaves her head. While burying Zubby’s leather bracelet near the iroko tree, she unearths a Royal Dansk biscuit tin.

Grandma West dies overnight. The next morning, Eniiyi discovers her body and tells her mother. Ebun rushes to check for a pulse before accepting she’s gone.

Ebun takes charge, informing Grandma East and preparing to wash the body. Eniiyi hides in her room, overwhelmed. That evening, Uncle Tolu and his wife, Ashley, arrive. Tolu is angered that Grandma East plans to wash the body without his permission. Ebun grabs Ashley’s arm and warns her to keep Tolu from upsetting her mother.

The house fills with well-wishers. Mama G arrives and mistakes Eniiyi for Monife. Eniiyi is pleased to see Osagie, who asks Eniiyi about her birthmark, now visible because of her recent haircut. He explains it’s vitiligo, a genetic condition he also has. Realization dawns as he looks from Eniiyi to Ebun, connecting the genetic trait. He abruptly excuses himself, leaving Eniiyi feeling her world is shifting.

At Grandma West’s funeral, Eniiyi gives a tribute. Bunmi is buried beside Monife in Ikoyi Cemetery. At Monife’s grave, Eniiyi whispers she’s done being her vessel. Zubby texts his condolences; she tells him she needs space. Back home, she overhears an argument between Osagie and her mother and hears Osagie shout that Eniiyi is his daughter. Ebun confirms to both Osagie and Eniiyi that Osagie is her father. He explains Ebun broke up without telling him about the pregnancy. Eniiyi confronts Ebun, who claims she did it to protect her from the curse.

Overwhelmed by recent events, Eniiyi gets drunk at a bar. Her friend Funsho finds her there. She asks what he’d do if his life was being manipulated like a puppet. He replies he’d “claw back control” (345). His answer resonates with her. Funsho offers Eniiyi a ride home.

Eniiyi goes to Funsho’s place and they begin to kiss. They have sex, with Eniiyi justifying it to herself as breaking free from Monife’s influence and making her own choices. The experience feels detached. When he tells her he loves her, she pulls away from him.

Osagie visits Eniiyi and they discuss her interest in genetic counseling. He expresses his desire for a relationship while respecting her boundaries. He offers help with her UK job and visa, even offering her a place to stay. Eniiyi asks if Osagie could ever forgive Ebun. He says eventually, acknowledging Ebun raised a wonderful daughter. She struggles with what to call him; he suggests “Oba,” his old nickname.

A week later, Zubby visits and pleads with Eniiyi, insisting their story is separate from their parents’. She blurts out that she slept with Funsho. Zubby, stunned, punches the wall in anger. She explains she needed to know she could make her own choices and wasn’t being manipulated by Monife’s spirit. Defeated, he asks if she’s with Funsho now; she denies it. He tells her she never gave him a chance and leaves. Grandma East comforts Eniiyi as she sobs, shedding tears for both Monife and herself.

Kalu arrives at the Falodun home drunk to apologize for hurting Monife, saying Zubby shouldn’t be punished for his mistakes. Ebun rejects him. In an unexpected show of compassion towards Kalu, Tolu confronts Ebun for her role in Monife’s depression, accusing her of convincing Monife to terminate her pregnancy, then backing out herself. Ebun breaks down. Tolu reveals he had a vasectomy 10 years ago to prevent having a daughter cursed like Monife. He confesses that the day before Monife died, Kalu left a message saying he wanted the baby, but Tolu deleted it. Kalu absolves Tolu and prostrates in profound apology. As he’s leaving, Eniiyi gives him the biscuit tin of belongings Monife buried. She returns Zubby’s leather bracelet, insisting their parents’ story has ended.

Eniiyi begins packing for her UK job. Her family—Ebun, Grandma East, Sango, and Oba—sees her off with emotional goodbyes. The narrator reveals that 24 hours later, Sango will die peacefully in his sleep. Oba will propose to Ebun, and they’ll move out with Grandma East, leaving the Falodun house to its ghosts. Seven years from now, Eniiyi will walk into a restaurant in Lagos and lock eyes with Zubby.

Monife’s spirit, depicted as a mermaid, battles the curse in the ocean until she feels it expire in her arms. Simultaneously, Eniiyi is on a plane flying above the ocean toward her new future, free from the curse’s influence. The narrator suggests a shadow left behind in the water signifies that Eniiyi alone is now the owner of her body.