Ejem is a cosmetics saleswoman who lives in a society where women are forcibly disrobed in childhood or their teens and made to remain naked until they get married, at which point they are under the protection of their husbands and thus allowed to don clothing. Ejem sees marriage as a fetter and has decided to remain unmarried, though she resents that people treat her badly because she is old and unmarried. Ejem goes to the house of her childhood friend, Chidinma, to sell cosmetics to Chidinma's rich friends. Chidinma is married and Ejem is not, which puts a strain on their friendship. When Chidinma's husband returns to their house, he stares at Ejem's body. Uncomfortable and angry, Chidinma tells Ejem that they can no longer be friends until Ejem gets married and can wear clothes. Unable to sell cosmetics to Chidinma's friends, Ejem is financially strained. She was once an architect working in a firm, but when clients began to stare at her naked body, Ejem was compelled to leave her job, and subsequently began to sell cosmetics. Now Ejem must try to find another job and bounces between different jobs (which all go awry because people object to her nakedness) until she begins working as a masseuse at a spa. At the spa, Ejem meets Odinaka, an unmarried woman whose power and wealth allow her to remain clothed. Odinaka brings Ejem to live in an apartment complex with other women who are unmarried, provides for her, and lets her quit her job. Ejem befriends the other women in the apartment complex. But as time goes on, Ejem finds that Odinaka is not kind to people of the osu caste—a lower caste that serves the caste that Ejem and Odinaka belong to—and that she may not be as generous and wonderful as she seems. One day, Ejem dons clothing and goes outside to visit a friend's bookstore, finding that strangers treat her with respect where she was once disdained. She encounters Chidinma. When Chidinma finds out that Ejem is illegally wearing clothing when she is not married, she embarrasses Ejem on the street and berates her for selfishly defying tradition. Ejem hurries back to her apartment, recalling the day she was forced to disrobe.