Àlàbí is his parents' only child so they are impatient for him to marry and start having children. He is already a teacher but wants to become a medical doctor.
Àlàbí once dated Àjọkẹ́ in the teacher training college. Because her mother has embraced Àlàbí as an in-law long before informing her father, her father asserts his authority by forcibly giving her away to someone else, an old and polygamous Alhaji. However, Àjọkẹ́ is barren and always sickly in the 3-year marriage. An oracle says that her destiny is incompatible with his and she will die unless they divorce. She divorces him but Àlàbí refuses to marry a "second-hand" woman.
Àlàbí leaves his village (Aiyéró) for Lagos for further studies and to escape parental pressure. He is now over 20 years old. His parents decide to find a wife for him and house her at their home if he doesn't want any "disturbance" in Lagos. Àwẹ̀ró (Olú's mother), Àlàbí's co-tenant with 2 children and an absentee husband, tries to seduce Àlàbí. When Àwẹ̀ró's pressure becomes too much for Àlàbí to bear, he asks his parents to send their choice (Àlàkẹ́) from the village.
The night before Àlàkẹ́ goes to Lagos, she dreams that an older woman is troubling her in Àlàbí's house. Her mother's herbalist says she doesn't need any sacrifice except patience. Àwẹ̀ró tries to provoke Àlàkẹ́ in many ways but fails. Àlàkẹ́ doesn't know she resents her marrying Àlàbí, because he didn't tell her about the seduction attempts! One day, Àwẹ̀ró leaves the house before Àlàkẹ́ and goes to the market. The neighborhood is deserted that afternoon. Àwẹ̀ró's room is burgled after Àlàkẹ́ too has gone out. Àwẹ̀ró tells the police that she suspects Àlàkẹ́ (whose room is directly opposite to hers), asking how she can be unaware of the burglary. The police follow Àwẹ̀ró home with their sniffing dog and she feels nobody else has entered the house till then. The police take their dog to Àlàkẹ́'s shop in the market but it ignores her. It later pounces on Àkànní, Àwẹ̀ró's first cousin, elsewhere in the market. He is the thief! Àlàbí and Àlàkẹ́ move out of the house at the end of the month.
Àlàkẹ́ gets pregnant in the first month of her marriage and Àlàbí later travels abroad to study Medicine. Àlàkẹ́ gives birth to a son, Olúgbémiga, in his absence in Lagos in the house of Elder Babátúndé (Àlàbí's benefactor) against her widowed mother's wish that she gives birth in the village. Her husband and in-laws also support her giving birth in Lagos because of the better antenatal care. Her mother boycotts the child naming ceremony and sends her younger sister (Àlàkẹ́'s aunt) to represent her. Àlàkẹ́ visits Aiyéró with her baby after 40 days. Her mother is always finding fault with Àlàbí's parents and his benefactor. Àlàkẹ́ eventually moves to Aiyéró (first to Bádéjọ's house and later to her mother's house) under her mother's influence and against Àlàbí's wishes. She also stops replying Àlàbí's letters and he later stops writing her.
In Àlàbí's final year, Jọkẹ́ (a lawyer) falls in love with him and tells her she's ready to become a second wife. However, she eventually gets him to marry her under the Statutory Law and he tells Àlàkẹ́ in writing to forget him and find another husband. Àlàkẹ́ is now unhappy and her mother abandons her to her fate. Àlàbí also tells his parents not to allow Àlàkẹ́ to move in with them or he will boycott their home. Àlàkẹ́'s aunt takes her to a herbalist to make a long-forgotten sacrifice.
Àlàbí and Jọkẹ́ move to Nigeria and get lucrative jobs in Lagos. However, Jọkẹ́ proves to be worse than Àlàkẹ́ was. During a 2-week visit to Aiyéró, she is rude to her parents-in-law, smokes and wears revealing clothes. Investigations reveal that her mother and her sisters change husbands frequently. After Àlàbí and Jọkẹ́ return to Lagos, his parents allow Àlàkẹ́ to move into their house. Jọkẹ́ comes to the village in anger, beats and throws out Àlàkẹ́ and insults Bádéjọ, earning the wrath of all her in-laws and even Àlàbí. In addition,Jọkẹ́ is childless and sleeps with Adélékè (a judge). Àlàbí divorces Jọkẹ́ after 14 months of marriage and reunites with Àlàkẹ́ (his destined wife). Àlàkẹ́ moves back to Lagos with him and is seen as refreshingly different from Jọkẹ́ by his visiting friends.
"Àyànmọ́" is the Yoruba word for destiny.
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