In a Lagos hotel lobby, Zelu is harassed by a group of upper-class men, particularly one in green sneakers who mocks her as a "crippled spinster" and questions her ability to have children. Her Auntie Mary arrives, fiercely defends her, and announces Zelu as a princess of the Ikeri clan, scaring the men off. Mary takes Zelu to her uncle Ralph's mansion in Victoria Island, where Uncle Ralph admires her exos and insightfully tells her that her parents disapprove because she has "rewritten her narrative" since publishing her book.

The next day, Zelu travels with Uncle Onyemobi, Hugo, Marcy, and Uchenna to Port Harcourt, attempting to keep a low profile by using a wheelchair and plain clothes. They arrive at Onyemobi's village house under armed military guard, a precaution that unsettles Zelu. Locals at the house mock her exos, Hugo, and Marcy. That night, Zelu retreats to her room, missing Msizi and unable to write the long-awaited second book.

The following morning, Zelu is driven to her Auntie Udoka's house to visit her father's grave. Udoka greets her joyfully, while Uncle Chinedu disapproves of her exos, calling them "unnatural." Over a beloved childhood meal of egg stew, plantain, and Fanta, Zelu is overwhelmed by nostalgia and grief.

In the backyard, Grand-Uncle Pious appears, his arms red from pressing palm oil. He critiques her writing and her exos, claiming her unmarried status results from her storytelling, and offers to save her soul as an ordained pastor. He calls her "foolish, strange" and says she is like her father — which Zelu takes as praise.

The group walks to her parents' former house, trailed by curious village boys. Zelu is devastated to find the once-beautiful family home in severe disrepair, neglected since her father's death. She vows to restore it herself, defying Igbo patriarchal tradition that placed responsibility on her brother Tolu. Visiting her father's modest gravestone, she speaks awkwardly to him, feeling the weight of memory and absence, and for the first time in her life, feels old.