During the mid-to-late sixties, twin sisters Olanna and Kainene return to Nigeria after their education in England, they make decisions that shock their family. Olanna moves in with her lover, the ‘revolutionary professor’ Odenigbo and his houseboy Ugwu while Kainene takes over the family interests and pursues a career as a businesswoman, falling in love with Richard, an English writer. As the Igbo people struggle to establish Biafra as an independent republic, the sisters become caught up in the shocking violence of the Nigerian Civil War and a betrayal that threatens their family forever.