Anna returns to the Segu airport, but when she shows her Bamanian passport to the gate agent, two security guards pull her aside and tell her that she is on the no-fly list. They take her to an interrogation room, where the interrogating officer accuses her of obtaining a passport under false pretenses; her name is not in the database. He asks her probing questions about her father, and when she cannot answer, he threatens her with jail time.

Several men throw Anna into a van and drive her to a local prison. When she demands to be taken to the British Embassy instead, they drag her into a cell and strip her of her belongings, leaving her with only a cell phone provided by the jail.

The following morning, Anna wakes parched and exhausted and notes that the other cells are occupied by Black men. She calls out to a guard and demands water and her cell phone. When the guard brings her a cold bottle of water, the other prisoners angrily exclaim that she is receiving special treatment because she is white. Anna drinks some of the water, then throws the bottle to the cell across from hers.

Several hours later, a guard arrives and opens Anna’s cell door; she is free to go. Sule is waiting by reception. He apologizes for the passport issue, claiming that “Owusu must be behind [it]” (249). Anna has no choice but to accompany him back to Kofi’s mansion in Segu. As Anna lies in bed thinking about Bronwen, Rose calls. She is incensed because she waited for hours to pick up Anna at the airport. She tells Anna that she should get back together with Robert if the prospect of divorce is going to make her act irrationally. Then she angrily hangs up. Soon, Kofi comes to check in on Anna, but when she asks him about returning to London, he brushes her off with the excuse that he must resume his campaign travels.

The following morning, Anna calls Sule, who is still working on resolving the passport issue. When she asks to be taken to the British Embassy, he tells her that doing so will not help because her Bamanian citizenship takes precedence while she is in Bamana. Anna calls Katherine to vent about her situation and asserts that Francis Aggrey seems impossibly different from Kofi Adjei. Katherine observes that the passage of time can change people drastically, and her words help Anna to recognize that she will have to accept Kofi for who he is now. Kweku enters Anna’s room, and they discuss Kofi’s other children, Benita and Kwabena, who both live abroad to escape Kofi’s influence. Anna asks whether Kweku feels guilty about Kofi’s legacy. He denies it, maintaining that Kofi has helped Bamana more than he has harmed it. Two days later, Afua invites Anna out for lunch to patch up their differences. Afua also tacitly encourages Anna to stay in Bamana and live with the Adjei family. Upon returning to Kofi’s mansion, Anna contemplates her options. If she returns to London and divorces Robert, she will be left adrift. If she stays in Bamana, she will be implicitly siding with her father and against critics like Marcellina.

After several days, Kofi invites Anna on an overnight trip. During the long drive toward an unknown destination, Kofi points out a road whose construction he oversaw, and Anna realizes that he is now “campaigning to [her]” (272). Kofi tells her that he initially became a revolutionary because he was young and patriotic and was tired of watching colonialists wreak havoc on his beloved country. They set up a campsite at a remote location, and over dinner, Kofi reminisces about his days as a guerilla fighter for the DCLG. While discussing their shared experience of being imprisoned, Kofi lets it slip that he knew Anna had her own cell phone in the Segu jail. Anna realizes that Kofi engineered both her passport mishap and her imprisonment. Furious, Anna says that Adrian and Kofi’s other critics are right: He is a crocodile.

Kofi scoffs at Anna’s anger and declares that Adrian was a spy who betrayed him and the other revolutionaries. He agreed to let Adrian visit him again because he knows how to part with the past, and he encourages Anna to do the same. Kofi picks up his diary and begins to tear out pages, throwing them into the fire. Anna shouts that Francis would be ashamed of him, and Kofi replies that he is Francis. Anna douses the fire, and Kofi relents, giving her the rest of the diary. Kofi orders Anna to hit him to even the score, but Anna refuses, instead retiring to bed. She contemplates how Kofi has acted as both her imprisoner and her rescuer and draws a parallel to how he has treated Bamana. She concludes that this is “his pattern…Francis and Kofi in one person” (276).

The next morning, Anna awakens to find Kofi lying in agony on his sleeping mat. He has her bring a jar of pain ointment and rub it on his back. When he is mobile again, he drives Anna to another unspecified destination. Anna is not afraid of him because she knows he would never harm his daughter. They arrive at Mensahkro Dam, a massive dam that Kofi had built to bring power to Bamana. Kofi is clearly proud of his achievement, but Anna tells him it is all a waste because he displaced several villages to complete the dam’s construction. Kofi tells her that she came to Bamana to meet a man who no longer exists. He compares her to the Sankofa, a mythical bird that flies with its head facing backward. Kofi says that such a creature cannot thrive in the real world.

Anna asks Kofi to stand still so she can sketch him, to paint later. Afterward, they get back into the car and begin to drive to another unknown destination. Anna once again asks Kofi to tell her about the Kinnakro Five. This time, Kofi implies that the students were killed after he made an offhand complaint about them, without the intent of real harm.

Kofi brings Anna to the home of an elderly woman named Wuyo Ama to perform the traditional Bamanian ritual of initiation into womanhood. When Wuyo Ama learns Anna’s two names, she points out that “Nana” is an anagram of “Anna.” Wuyo Ama takes Anna to an empty room, and during the ritual, Anna experiences hallucinatory visions of a river in the middle of a verdant forest. Wuyo Ama and Anna step into the river. On its banks, Anna sees Bronwen standing together with a line of Anna’s English and African ancestors. Anna recalls a specific incident when Bronwen stood up to a racist teacher who wouldn’t let Anna audition for the nativity play. She thanks the vision of Bronwen for doing her best.

At the end of the ritual, Wuyo Ama produces a knife to seal the rite in blood. Anna cries out in fear for Kofi, calling him “Papa.” Kofi comes running, but Wuyo Ama only makes a small cut on her arm. She blesses Anna, pronouncing, “There is no split in you” (291). Anna feels a sense of inner peace. Returning to her room at Kofi’s house, she calls Rose to announce her decision to stay in Bamana for a while longer; she also invites Rose to come visit. After hanging up, Anna sets up a fresh canvas and begins to sketch the outline for a painting.