This coming-of-age novel takes place in the mid-seventies in West Africa. A series of events is set in motion after seven year-old Cadenza is uprooted from France and abandoned to a courtyard-based community in Cotonou, Benin. The separation fractures her. But among the people of the commune she learns the language and adapts to the customs. A year later her father arrives with her sister. As Cadenza performs the duty of a responsible adult, in charge of the household, her love for her absent mother fades. What follows is her experience of a strange world, of which perception will alter everything for her, including her love for her mother.