A beautiful 14-year-old girl has just reached marriageable age in a village in Senegal. She has many suitors; however, she is in love a poor student who has returned to the village while the university is on strike. At birth, she had been promised in marriage to Diogoye, who went away to work in France. Diogoye, who supplied her parents with many things over the years, has now sent a dowry, and asked that she be married to him in the village in his absence; she would then be sent to France.
A 53-year-old civil servant, who has been refused promotion, finds himself forced to resume studies with the help of his son in order to obtain the necessary diploma.
The theme of the rural exodus has inspired many African authors. In the past, by tradition, the young peasant went abroad temporarily to earn the money needed to settle in the village. Now, he leaves the countryside with no idea of returning, convinced that he will find all the means to make his fortune in these mirage cities. Issa, in turn, takes the road to the capital. Before leaving, Aminata slips a bronze bracelet on her arm as a token of loyalty and love. Then begins for Issa the inexorable chain of disillusions, bad luck, misunderstandings
Following a misunderstanding, a traveler is mistaken for an important official on an inspection tour. Nothing will be spared to coax him into turning a blind eye to the prevarications: embezzlement, exactions of all kinds practiced by the local notables.
A money order from a relative in Paris throws the life of a Senegalese family man out of order. He deals with corruption, greed, problematic family members, the locals and the changing from his traditional way of living to a more modern one.
