October 1

Police inspector Danladi Waziri is summoned by the British colonial authorities to present his findings on a series of rapes and murders of young women in Akote, a remote village in Western Nigeria. Upon his arrival in Akote, he is received by Sergeant Afonja, who tells him that a man on horseback being admired by several villagers is Prince Aderopo, the first of their community to graduate from university. As he begins his investigation, Waziri notices a pattern in the killings and concludes that the rapes and murders are the work of a serial killer. In the evening, while Aderopo is meeting with his childhood friends Tawa and Agbekoya in the village bar, one of his guards deserts his post to spend time with his lover. At the bar, Baba Ifa, the town’s chief priest, warns Waziri and Afonja that the killings will continue until the murderer is satisfied. The next day, the dead body of the guard’s lover is discovered.

Waziri orders the arrest of Baba Ifa, but Afonja refuses. Waziri suspends him and replaces him with his deputy, Corporal Omolodun. The body of an Igbo girl is discovered and Omolodun trails the killer along a bush path; the killer then kills Omolodun. Okafor, the girl’s father, and his fellow tribesmen capture a travelling Hausa man, claiming that he is the serial killer. The accused man is taken into custody, but he maintains his innocence and tells Waziri that the actual perpetrator was whistling a tune. Waziri informs his superiors that he has found the murderer and will be closing the case. Okafor throws a machete at the man during his transfer, piercing his heart; as he is dying, the man continues to insist that he did not kill the girl.

After leaving a celebration of the investigation’s closure, Waziri hears whistling and is assaulted by the killer. Although he is too drunk to identify him, he slowly remembers the killer’s face as he recovers at Afonja’s home. The next morning, he goes to the market square to observe the body language of Aderopo. Waziri visits Tawa and discovers that Aderopo and Agbekoya both received the same scholarship from Reverend Dowling, the village priest. Waziri visits Agbekoya, who reveals that Dowling molested him and Aderopo.

At an independence celebration, Aderopo invites Tawa to their childhood hideout, which has been renovated. Waziri and Afonja attempt to trail them, but are unsuccessful; Agbekoya, the only other person who knows the location of the hideout, leads them there. As they arrive, Aderopo is about to make Tawa his sixth victim, symbolizing the six years that he was abused by Dowling. Waziri and Afonja save Tawa. Waziri subsequently presents his account of the investigation to the British, who instruct him to withhold Aderopo’s identity; he reluctantly agrees to do so for the sake of a peaceful independence.