Esi Agyekum is a precocious half-Nigerian girl, coming of age in the colorful, often chaotic Ghana of the late 60s/early 70s. She's the unofficial "secret keeper" of her family. Esi is as tight-lipped over her father's adultery as she is over her half-sisters' sex lives. But after her own sexual exploration earns her a humiliating and gendered punishment, Esi starts to wonder why women's secrets and men's secrets bear different consequences. The incident sets Esi's self-actualization in motion. As she navigates womanhood, Esi tries to reconcile her own ideals and dreams with her family's complicated past and troubled present, as well as society's many double standards. Against a fraught political climate, Esi fights to carve out her own identity, manifesting her power in surprising and inspiring ways.