Set in 1940s Nigeria, capturing the struggles of a young African girl. Funmi precariously straddles the different worlds of modernity and tradition. When Funmi's mother, a powerful market woman, insists on sending her to England for an education, Funmi goes reluctantly, knowing that the patriarchal traditions at home continue to oppress the market women. With the help of a strange African American angel, Funmi returns with the confidence of an educated young woman. But she soon finds that, even though she has changed, the oppression has remained the same. The film culminates in the moment when Funmi finally and fully faces the old challenges.

After a tightly wound but promising Ivy League graduate moves back in with her disappointed mother in their Section 8 apartment, she is forced to babysit a peculiar and precocious child and consequently helps him manage his bullies as well as her own.