The book tells the story of Ade - alias the Flying Paintbrush, a champion hurdler with a scarred left foot. Ade meets Yeni, scion of the famous Martins family. To save the fledgling political and legal career of her raffish brother, Bola, Yeni implores Ade to take the blame for an accident. Smitten and awe-struck, Ade agrees only to learn, to his horror, that a young girl died and that he, Ade, not Bola is a wanted man. Yeni helps him flee the country on condition that they get married.
He returns to Lagos with a new identity, falls in love with Moji at work but he cannot leave the cruel and manipulative Yeni because the venal Controller, a greedy police officer who knows his secret, is blackmailing him. Can Ade escape his predicament?