Walking home, Chike hears shouting that sounds like Aku-nna’s voice but tells himself it can’t be. He also hears gunshots, fired to celebrate a marriage. He thinks of his father’s agreement about Aku-nna and hopes that it will be settled soon. After arriving home, he discusses Aku-nna’s exam success with his father, and they agree that, while Aku-nna is young to be married, they must hurry before she’s given to another man. Upon hearing the gunshots again, Chike realizes that it’s coming from Okoboshi’s home. He’s filled with dread and the certainty that the Obidis have kidnapped Aku-nna to force her into marriage with Okoboshi.

Realizing that Aku-nna is missing and must be the kidnapped girl, her extended family publicly lament her kidnapping, while Okonkwo gets drunk on whiskey. Later that night, Okoboshi’s family officially informs Okonkwo that they have his stepdaughter, saying that the marriage will soon be consummated. Drunk and feeling trapped, Okonkwo accepts a minimal bride price in order to legitimize Aku-nna’s forced marriage to Okoboshi.

At Okoboshi’s family home, the women advise her not to struggle when Okoboshi consummates the marriage, saying that he would call his drunk male relatives to “come in and help him hold her legs apart” (135). Aku-nna asks to use the toilet, resolving that she will die by suicide during the night. While in the toilet, she hears Chike whistling their special song and feels renewed courage, certain that there is “no man for her but Chike” (136). 

Aku-nna is put in a bridal hut; Okoboshi arrives and attempts to rape her, hitting her when she tries to fight him off. Realizing that she can’t protect herself physically, she lies and claims that she’s not a “virgin,” alleging that Chike has already slept with her and may have gotten her pregnant. Humiliated and enraged, Okoboshi curses and beats her severely, vowing to keep her as a wife in name only. He says that he never desired her and that his father’s true motive in kidnapping her was simply to get even with his old enemies, the Ofulues. The next morning, Okoboshi tells the family what Aku-nna has said, and they insult and abuse her. They tell her that she’s now the family’s “slave” and give her domestic chores. 

During the night’s confusion, Nna-nndo had run to Chike, and together they watched the Obidi house. Nna-nndo visits Aku-nna with the permission of the Obidis, secretly giving her a letter from Chike outlining an escape plan. That night, she goes to the owele (the outhouse area) and hears Chike’s signature whistle. She meets him, and they flee Ibuza, walking seven miles through the night to Asaba.

In Ughelli, Chike and Aku-nna are taken in by his friend Ben Adegor and his wife, Rose. Using money from Chike’s father, they buy furniture, including a Vono bed they name “Joy.” On their first night together, both of them find sexual intimacy difficult. Chike has seen Aku-nna’s bruises and heard the gossip that she’s not a “virgin”; he worries that Okoboshi raped her and that she’s traumatized. They talk, and he discovers that Aku-nna lied to Okoboshi about her “virginity” to save herself. From then on, they’re happy together, building a happy and prosperous life. Chike finds a good, well-paid job, and Aku-nna works as a teacher. Nna-nndo lives with them, away from the turmoil in Ibuza; Chike pays for Nna-nndo’s education and sends regular money to Ma Blackie.

Meanwhile, in retaliation for the elopement, the Ofulue plantation is destroyed; Ofulue’s sons suspect that the Obidi family originated this plot and sue them, increasing resentment against the family. Ma Blackie discovers a woven image of her daughter placed before Okonkwo’s chi (personal god) to curse her with early death. Ma Blackie destroys the doll. Shamed and vengeful, Okonkwo publicly divorces Ma Blackie. Mr. Ofulue repeatedly attempts to pay Okonkwo the bride price for Aku-nna, but Okonkwo adamantly refuses. He uses magic intended to call Aku-nna back.

Aku-nna realizes that she’s pregnant after becoming ill. A doctor warns that she’s very small and young to be pregnant, the result of malnourishment in her early years. As her health deteriorates, Aku-nna’s fears intensify, and she repeatedly cries to Chike that her uncle calls her back “in the wind” when she’s alone (163). She goes into premature labor and is rushed to the hospital for an emergency Caesarean section. She gives birth to a girl, but the doctors warn Nna-nndo and Chike that Aku-nna will not survive. In her final moments, Aku-nna asks Chike to name their baby Joy and then dies in his arms. Her death is told as a tale in Ibuza, reinforcing the local superstition that a woman whose bride price remains unpaid will not survive her first childbirth. This superstition is used to enforce girls’ compliance with their fathers’ choice of husband for them.