Nhamo is a virtual slave in her African village in 1981. Before her twelfth birthday, Nhamo runs away to escape marriage to a cruel husband, and spends a year going from Zimbabwe to Mozambique.

Alone on the river in a stolen boat, swept into the uncharted heart of a great lake, she battles drowning, starvation, and wild animals.

This is a humorous and heartwrenching story of a young girl who discovers her own courage and strength during her dangerous journey.