At the beginning of the novel, Munira, Karega, Abdulla, and Wanja are questioned about the triple murder of three notable Kenyan businessmen, Kimeria, Mzigo, and Chui. As they answer the authorities’ questions, the novel is told primarily in flashbacks going back twelve years to when these four characters first came to the village of Ilmorog (it is set in the post-independence period [1963-], though some of the characters’ memories and stories go back further).
Munira arrived at Ilmorog to teach schoolchildren. While he came from a wealthy Christian family, he chafed under his father’s strictness and wanted to strike out on his own. Abdulla and his adopted son, Joseph, came to Ilmorog for a new start, and Abdulla opened a bar and shop. Wanja came to the village to stay near her grandmother Nyakinyua, a respected older woman, and began working for Abdulla as a barmaid. She pushed for Joseph to start school, as she had had to leave school before finishing. Karega sought a new opportunity as well, hoping to connect with Munira as the two had a shared past.
The four new arrivals became friends and settle into the village. Munira and Wanja made love one night and he became obsessed with her, though she wanted to remain platonic. Munira and Karega explored part of their shared past, their attending the elite school of Siriana, and how both were expelled due to participation in strikes. They both knew of a man named Chui, who’d been a popular student during Munira’s time but was headmaster during Karega’s time and proved himself to be a tool of the foreigners. Wanja also spoke of her past as a prostitute and how she’d once had a child by Kimeria, a businessman who seduced her, but it was no longer with her. She desperately wanted to be a mother again but did not know if it was possible. Over time, Abdulla also revealed that had been a member of the Mau Mau freedom fighters.
Life in the village became increasingly difficult as the rains refused to come and the harvest withered. The local holy man could do nothing for them, so Karega suggested some of them travel to Nairobi to meet with their MP, Nderi wa Riera. The community agreed this would be the only way to get help, and all of them decided to go.
The journey was difficult but there was a profound sense of togetherness and purpose. Abdulla was a veritable hero along the way, telling them stories of his days in the forest. Nyakinyua also spoke of the history of Ilmorog. Listening to her, Karega became more convinced that attention had to be paid to Kenya’s, and Africa’s, glorious past before the colonizers came.
Unfortunately, when the weary travelers reached Nairobi, they encountered several less-than-helpful individuals, including the MP, and began to despair that anything would change. Munira, Abdulla, and Karega were detained for disturbing the peace and brought to trial, and were only saved by the persuasive defense offered by a lawyer whom Wanja knew. Ironically, the media attention brought to these “courageous Good Samaritans” resulted in numerous donations, free travel back to the village, and Nderi’s growing interest in developing the village for tourism (but only to retain his own reputation).
Back in Ilmorog, the outside help coupled with strong rains meant a banner season for the harvest. Wanja grew in beauty as she became immersed in cultivating the land. She and Karega became lovers after a powerful gathering at Nyakinyua’s where the old woman showed Wanja, Karega, Munira, and Abdulla how to brew the potent drink Theng’eta. That night was full of confessions and ruminations about the past.
Listening to Nyakinyua and meeting with the lawyer spurred on Karega’s increasing radicalization. He learned his brother was a Mau Mau companion of Abdulla’s but had been betrayed and hanged. He took a position teaching school with Munira but felt that the boys were not learning about the things that really mattered.
Munira had Karega dismissed due to his jealousy over Wanja as well as Karega’s revelation that he had been involved with Munira’s sister years back and their love was the reason for her suicide. Karega left the village.
Over time, the village modernized and changed due to the neo-colonial forces of investment, loans, infrastructure, and collusion between foreigners, African politicians, and businessmen. It expanded and became a tourist destination for its Theng’eta. Abdulla and Wanja started a successful bar. Munira became more of an outsider, staying in his teaching job but lusting after Wanja.
Eventually, Karega returned after a year of traveling, looking for work, and refining his communist views. He learned Nyakinyua had died a few days after hearing her land would be sold off since she could not pay the loans she was bamboozled into taking out. Wanja and Abdulla sold their rights to the bar to Mzigo, an education official and businessman, so she could buy her grandmother’s land; Mzigo promptly kicked them out. Wanja then started a whorehouse, the Sunshine Lodge, which attracted elite clientele like Mzigo, Chui, and Kimeria, all of whom were African directors of the new Theng’eta brewery.
Munira was restless and unhappy, and turned to Christian fanaticism. He was convinced he needed to save Karega from Wanja and from his dangerous ideals. Abdulla languished after the bar closed and Wanja started her whorehouse. His only joy was that Joseph was doing well in school. Soon, he and Wanja became lovers, and she finally conceived a child.
Karega had planned a massive strike and Mzigo, Chui, and Kimeria met to consider the demands. They then went to Wanja’s whorehouse, where she installed them each in different rooms. She killed Kimeria with a weapon, but no one knew since Munira decided to set the whorehouse on fire that night. Abdulla was also there, planning to seek revenge on the men who had wronged him and Wanja; he got there in time only to save someone from the burning building.
At the end of the novel, the Inspector conducting the interviews discovers it is Munira, and he is set for a trial. Karega is still detained but hopeful that the strikes and resistance against the forces keeping regular Kenyans down will endure. Wanja is also filled with hope because she can feel Abdulla’s child in her womb.
