Lakunle rushes out of his school to lecture Sidi about modern womanhood and tries to take her water pail.

Sidi refuses Lakunle's marriage proposal because he will not pay her traditional bride-price.

Village girls arrive with news that the foreign traveller has returned to Ilujinle with a magazine featuring Sidi's photos.

Sidi discovers her image dominates the magazine, appearing far more prominently than Baroka the Bale.

The villagers perform a lively reenactment of the foreigner's first visit using traditional song and dance.

Baroka himself enters the reenactment scene and participates alongside the villagers.

Alone after the crowd departs, Baroka studies the magazine and resolves to make Sidi his next wife.

Sadiku arrives to formally deliver Baroka's marriage proposal to Sidi.

Sidi rejects Baroka's proposal, insisting her new fame elevates her far beyond becoming any man's wife.

Baroka secretly confides to Sadiku that he has become impotent and swears her to absolute secrecy.

Sadiku breaks her vow and excitedly reveals Baroka's supposed impotence to Sidi.

Sidi travels to Baroka's compound planning to taunt him while pretending to reconsider his marriage proposal.

Baroka reveals a stamp bearing Sidi's image and proposes to feature her beauty on it, overwhelming her vanity.

Sidi returns to the village square in tears and confesses she was deceived into sleeping with Baroka.

Sidi shocks Lakunle by announcing she will marry Baroka instead of him, praising the Bale's virility and wisdom.

The play opens with Sidi, the beautiful village belle, rejecting the schoolmaster Lakunle's marriage proposal because he refuses to pay her traditional bride-price. When a foreign traveller returns to the village with a magazine featuring Sidi's photos, her vanity swells and she begins to see herself as more important than even the village chief, Baroka. Baroka, in turn, studies the magazine and decides to make Sidi his next wife, setting the central conflict in motion. After Sidi refuses his formal proposal, Baroka secretly tells his head wife Sadiku that he is impotent, a lie calculated to reach Sidi and lure her to his compound. Sidi arrives intending to taunt Baroka, but he outmaneuvers her completely with a scheme involving a stamp bearing her image, ultimately seducing her. Devastated but captivated by his virility and wisdom, Sidi shocks Lakunle by choosing to marry Baroka instead of him.

The headline events that drive the rivalry between Lakunle, Baroka, and Sidi.

Two schoolboys catcall Sidi from the classroom window before Lakunle smacks them and rushes outside to her.

Lakunle kisses Sidi on the mouth to demonstrate civilized Western courtship, which repels and disgusts her.

The villagers mock Lakunle as the village fool and pressure him to play the Traveller in the reenactment.

The reenactment depicts the foreigner's car breaking down on the road leading into Ilujinle.

The reenactment shows the drunken foreigner falling into the river while trying to photograph a bathing woman.

Baroka, playing his own role in the reenactment, theatrically threatens to arrest the Traveller and put him on trial.

The reenactment depicts the foreigner drinking at the feast and photographing Sidi as she dances for the village.

Lakunle's dramatic departure from the feast signals the reenactment is over, earning him unexpected applause.

Sadiku argues that becoming Baroka's final wife will guarantee Sidi lifelong privilege, prestige, and prosperity.

Sidi refuses Baroka's dinner invitation, knowing every woman who accepts ends up as his wife or concubine.

Lakunle tells the story of how Baroka bribed railroad officials to prevent the railway from reaching Ilujinle.

Baroka's favorite wife angrily yanks a hair from his armpit out of jealousy and is immediately dismissed by him.

Sadiku produces a carved naked statue of Baroka and performs a triumphant solo dance celebrating his impotence.

The mummers parade through the village square performing a dance that symbolically strips Baroka of his virility.

Lakunle offers to still marry Sidi despite her lost virginity but firmly reiterates his refusal to pay the bride-price.

Act One establishes the village of Ilujinle as a community that uses communal performance and mockery to make sense of the outside world, with Lakunle serving as the target of much of that ridicule. The villagers pressure Lakunle into playing the foreign traveller in a reenactment, which depicts the drunkard's blundering arrival, his fall into the river, and his feast with the Bale. Act Two deepens the conflict as Sadiku pitches the privileges of becoming Baroka's last wife and Sidi dismisses both the proposal and the dinner meant to soften her. Meanwhile, Baroka's household scene, in which his favorite wife is dismissed after angering him, reveals the petty tyranny beneath his grand reputation. Act Three brings the community back into focus as Sadiku performs her triumphant statue dance and the mummers spread the news of Baroka's supposed impotence through the square. The pool closes with Lakunle's contradictory offer to marry Sidi despite her lost virginity while still refusing to pay her bride-price.

The supporting scenes and storytelling moments that flesh out the world of Ilujinle.

Baroka and Lakunle clash about tradition versus modernization during the reenactment, exposing their deep underlying rivalry.

Sidi walks absorbed in the magazine while Lakunle humbly trails behind her carrying a bundle of firewood.

While warning Sidi about Baroka's cunning, Lakunle inadvertently reveals his own admiration for the Bale's taste in women.

Sadiku reports Sidi's refusal to Baroka, who receives the news with apparent sorrow before confiding his secret.

Baroka crowns Sadiku the queen of all his wives just before falling asleep, all but guaranteeing she will share his secret.

Sidi devises a plan to visit Baroka and secretly mock his impotence while feigning to reconsider his proposal.

Both Lakunle and Sadiku warn Sidi that Baroka is far too cunning to be safely taunted or outwitted.

Lakunle angrily confronts Sadiku after Sidi leaves, accusing her of delivering women into Baroka's schemes.

Sidi arrives at Baroka's compound and is unexpectedly captivated by his physical power during a wrestling match.

Baroka hurls his wrestling partner aside in sudden fury after Sidi's veiled taunts about his impotence grow unmistakable.

Sidi compares Baroka's flattery to Lakunle's empty words, but his stamp proposal overwhelms her desire for fame.

Sidi rests her head on Baroka's shoulder in a moment that signals her complete emotional surrender to his wisdom.

A group of female dancers performs a symbolic chase of a masked male dancer through the village square.

Sidi rushes home to pack her belongings as confused revelers begin arriving at the village square for an unexpected wedding.

Sadiku blesses Sidi's marriage to Baroka as a bewildered and defeated Lakunle joins the villagers heading to the celebration.

The play's real engine is a series of reversals in which each character believes they hold the upper hand, only to discover they have been outmaneuvered. Baroka and Lakunle's clash during the reenactment first signals the deeper rivalry beneath the comedy, while Sidi's growing absorption in the magazine sets up the vanity that will ultimately undo her. In Act Two, Baroka engineers his own defeat by confiding his supposed impotence to Sadiku, correctly predicting she will be unable to keep it secret, and crowning her his most loyal wife to seal the trap. Sidi's decision to visit Baroka despite warnings from both Lakunle and Sadiku is the pivot on which the entire plot turns. Inside his compound, Baroka's wrestling display disarms Sidi before the stamp idea overwhelms her defenses entirely, and her surrender is complete when she rests her head on his shoulder. The pool closes not with tragedy but with a wedding, as Sadiku blesses the union and a bewildered Lakunle is swept along to the celebrations.