Nursing student Florence Chipiti mentors three young students from Zambia. As she tells them how her mind works, they, too, have something to teach her. They have endured the loss of a parent, the attacks of a predator, and the fear of not being able to make the grade. Florence has a controlling father known far and wide as the Honey Badger, who demands she become a state certified registered nurse, all from the influence of a book read to him by his tutor, Wellington Taylor. He has also threatened death to any man who interrupts her studies. This fear makes her resist the advances of a suitor, only to learn that the man has already made arrangements with her father. The young nurses learn that the path to our dreams is not always a straight line, that the detours which seem to take us the farthest from our goals often lead to our greatest discoveries of what is important and worth saving. Just as she is about to marry the man who has won her heart, the sexual predator known as the hyena, once again stalks the young women. Will their education allow them to overcome fear and the evil of trafficking?

This sweeping novel of hope and determination connects the generations and continues the romance begun in The Bride Price and continued in The Academy.