In the city of Enugu, Nigeria, fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother, Jaja, lead a privileged life. Their Papa is a wealthy and respected buinessman; they live in a beautiful house; and they attend an exclusive missionary school. But, as kambili reveals in her tender-hearted account, their home life is anything but harmonious. Her father, a fanatically religious man, has impossible expectations of his childrenand wife.