CHAPTER 1: Adégún Babalọlá, Adéògún Babátọ́lá and Ilésanmí Àràoyè are bosom friends. They wear matching clothes on the night of Adégún's mother's funeral. Other people present are Prince Adésọjí Oyèdélé and his detective friend (Akin Olúsínà), Àlàbí Ayédùn , Joseph Adélẹ́yẹ ,Daniel Èṣùgbèmí, Àkànbí and Ọpẹ́. Ọpẹ́ tells Adégún that Àkànbí is a thief. The following day, Sọjí and Akin hear that Adégún's box is missing and that it is one Aríyìíbí who reported seeing the key to Adégún's room on the ground outside the house. Adéògún helps Adégún to pay for the drinks. Sọjí promises that Akin will help them to unravel the mystery.
CHAPTER 2: Akin hears that Àkànbí left the funeral night party in a hurry without telling anyone. He also learns from Ọpẹ́ (Àkànbí's aunt's husband) that Àkànbí is a chronic thief. He has been arraigned for robbery before Justice Babáyẹmí (his mother's brother), who helps him pay the fine on identifying him. "Babáyẹmí told him to tell him what he wants to do for a living but he goes on to steal a bride's wristwatch. After Àlàkẹ́ and I bail him out of that, he steals a motorist's money, but no relative intervenes this time around". The next day, Akin goes to Arẹ́nijẹ, sees Àkànbí at the motor park and follows him home. Àkànbí says he doesn't steal from his relatives. Adégún is Àkànbí's second cousin. Akin leaves Àkànbí and heads for Dágbólu.
CHAPTER 3: The vehicle carrying Akin meets another passenger vehicle on the way. This second vehicle is decrepit and has the words "Mo bá Ọlọ́run dúró"(I stand with God) written in front and "Tì ẹ dà?" (Where is yours?) at the back. At Dágbólu, Akin buys and eats some bush meat. The vehicle packs its luggage and heads back to Àròsọ. At Arẹ́nijẹ, "Tì ẹ dà" has broken down and another vehicle "Bálé láyọ̀" (Meet peace at your destination) helps to take some of its passengers with the help of Àkànbí, a motor park agent. At the motor park in Àròsọ, a woman selling clothes raises an alarm that her cloth has been stolen. The cloth is eventually found at Àkànbí's house! Àkànbí is detained. Akin goes to Adégún's house and learns that the cloth-seller is Ilésanmí's maternal grandmother. Ilésanmí decides to get Àkànbí released to help Adégún (just as Adéògún helped Adégún with 50 naira for the drinks).
CHAPTER 4: The next day, Akin goes to Ilésanmí's house, where Ilésanmí recounts their ordeals of the previous day at Arẹ́nijẹ. Adéògún falls and gets hurt while rushing to get into a vehicle. The police refuse to let Ilésanmí withdraw the case. During the court session in Ìlúpéjú, Adéògún gets up to urinate and is punished (with standing in a box) for the loud noise made by his shoes. Àkànbí is sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment or a 40-naira fine. The stolen cloth is returned to Mrs Àràoyè. Àkànbí's lawyer charges 20 naira for representing him. Adéògún (when released after the court session) pays all the 60 naira.
CHAPTER 5: Akin, his friends and Ayédùn are at Bísí's beer parlour when they notice a young man in oversized fish-patterned clothes. Then Ayédùn and some other people speak well of Aríyìíbí as a honest driver, though he doesn't allow people to beat down his transport charges. Bísí recounts how Aríyìíbí returned a bag containing 14 naira which he once forgot in his vehicle. However, Níran (the man in oversized clothes) disagrees, saying Aríyìíbí did not return a box someone forgot in their vehicle but gave him the oversized shirt on him from the box. Adégún, Adéògún and Ilésanmí join them there and head for the house of Olúdé,who is wearing undersized fish-patterned clothes. This is a mystery because Olúdé did not attend Adégún's mother's funeral night party.
CHAPTER 6: Olúdé explains to Akin and co, " When the person who forgot the box in our vehicle didn't show up after 2 days, and the contents are not really valuable, we shared the clothes among ourselves". Adégún asks Olúdé to return the ₦166.60k in the box but Akin tells him to calm down (reminding him that Olúdé is Ilésanmí's brother and looks reliable).
CHAPTER 7: Àkànbí has landed in jail for stealing again. Akin and Túndé (a fellow detective) see him in prison clothes cutting grass at a government office and singing prison songs with his fellow prisoners. Akin goes to Lagos and plots with some companies to advertise a job for Senior School Certificate holders from Àròsọ. Adéògún applies for and gets the job. After 2 weeks on the job, Adéògún is arrested by the police for using someone else's certificate to get the job. Akin stands surety to get him bailed until the next court session in 5 days' time.
CHAPTER 8: At Sọjí's house that night, Adéògún confesses how he stole Adégún's box because of the certificate. He inserted "o" into "Adégún" to form "Adéògún" and crossed the first "l" in "Babalọlá" to form "Babátọ́lá"! After removing the certificate and the money, he dumped the box containing only clothes into Aríyìíbí's vehicle to implicate him, not knowing that Aríyìíbí has transferred the vehicle to someone else. On the judgement date, Ilésanmí pays for a lawyer to defend Adéògún. The judge sentences Adéògún to 2 years in prison or a ₦200 fine. He is unable to pay the fine (and his friends refuse to help him pay) so he becomes a prisoner.
It serves him right for being an "Aṣenibánidárò" (someone who harms one and then pretends to sympathise with one).
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