The novel is narrated by Hannah Musgrave, a woman in her fifties reflecting back on her life as a politically radical student who later became a member of the Weathermen and changes her name to Dawn Carrington.

After a series of failed relationships with men, Dawn takes on a young mother named Carol as her lover and lives with her and her daughter Bettina while carrying on secret activities for the weathermen.

After Zack, another member of her cell, erroneously tells her that they are both wanted by drug dealers, she flees with him to Ghana before moving on to the city of Monrovia in Liberia in 1975.

There she meets and eventually marries the Minister of Public Health, Woodrow Sundiata, who is aware of her political past but is willing to overlook it because of the status that a white American woman brings to his family.

Their marriage is one of convenience on both sides and during the time they are together Hannah gives birth to three sons: Dillon, a math prodigy, and twin boys William and Paul.

Once in Liberia Hannah decides to open a rescue sanctuary for her beloved chimpanzees while she waits patiently for Charles Taylor to return and overthrow Samuel Doe.

Hannah spends the rest of her time in Liberia fruitlessly searching for her sons despite the urging of Sam Clement, the American ambassador, to leave for America.