Chinelo Okparanta's debut novel is both a war and love story. The coming-out tale of the girl Ijeoma begins in 1968, a year after the start of the Biafra War in Nigeria. The population suffers from the increasingly brutal war and an unimaginable famine. Ijeoma's father dies in a bombing raid. Her mother can no longer care for her, and she is sent to a distant village to stay with family friends. There, she meets Amina, who is the same age and also alone. A friendship develops between Ijeoma, a Christian Igbo, and Amina, a Muslim Hausa, which turns into a passion. When this relationship, deemed impossible due to ethnic and societal reasons, is discovered, Ijeoma must return to her mother, who raises her in a strict religious manner. Ijeoma is desperate and finds solace with the older Ndidi.