Rhoda, a sixteen year old girl, finds herself in a sticky situation. She is technically an orphan; 'technically' because her parents are both alive. But her father is a drunkard who has never acknowledged paternity. Her mother, meanwhile, is married to a rich man in Nairobi. But she has never disclosed to her controlling husband that she has a daughter in the village, so she is unable to lend support to Rhoda.
Rhoda was brought up by her maternal grandparents. They were her parents in the actual sense; but they are now dead, leaving her an orphan.
Rhoda was taken in by the Kasidas, a wealthy “Christian” couple in their village. But Mr. Kasida has been sexually defiling her since she came to the house. Now she is pregnant, and the Kasidas want her to implicate Mitwa, their gardener, who happens to be the only friend Rhoda has. Rhoda and Mitwa have never had sexual contact; their friendship is purely platonic. The move to implicate Mitwa is engineered Mrs. Kasida, largely because the gardener has been resisting her sexual advances.
Rhoda has two choices: she could report Kasida to the authorities and risk being killed by his gang of thugs. Or she can implicate Mitwa and save both their lives. Mitwa will however end up in jail. Rhoda bows to pressure at first, but later chooses to protect her friend; that decision instantly makes her a hunted girl. Kasida is determined to have her head on a platter.