He seeks political asylum in the UK but is planning to make the equivalent of US$5,000 in London and fly back to Zimbabwe, because he is sure that with that kind of money he can buy his way out of the criminal justice process.
His struggle to raise the money sees him resorting to low-paid jobs in the underbelly of London, but he also takes advantage of Shingi, his friend and squat-mate, and blackmails his cousin's wife when he discovers that she is having an affair.
With events becoming increasingly fractious, the story reaches its dénouement when the narrator's mind begins to unravel and, simultaneously, he and Shingi become a single entity.
Chikwava utilises the nameless narrator as a malignant presence in Shingi in order to articulate a duality of consciousness.
In this way, Chikwava explores the trauma suffered by young men who joined the militia in Zimbabwe and committed atrocities for their political masters.