The book opens with Mariatu, age eleven, living in Magborou, a small village in Sierra Leone. Mariatu lives with her aunt, Marie, and uncle, Alie, a common practice in her country. They share a clay house with relatives and several other families. Life in the village is lively and communal and Mariatu spends her days working on the village farm and her evenings “dancing to the sound of drums and to people singing” (15).

Mariatu spends time with her older cousins, the friendly joker Mohamed, bossy and impatient Ibrahim, and Marie’s youngest daughter, Adamsay. Mariatu is a little jealous of Adamsay and is sometimes unkind to her but, for the most part, the two are close. Earlier in her life, Mariatu had also enjoyed spending time with her half-brother, Santigie, but he died several years ago.

One day, an older man named Salieu accosts Mariatu and, standing “so close I could feel his hot breath on my cheek” (20), he tells her that he will marry her one day. Mariatu is upset because she wishes to marry her friend Musa but Marie insists that the marriage will go ahead because Salieu is a family friend.

The village chairman reports that armed rebels are drawing closer to Magborou.