Okonkwo's legendary wrestling victory over Amalinze the Cat establishes his fame; his harsh personality and disdain for his lazy father Unoka are detailed, along with Unoka's debts and a visit from Okoye who pressures Unoka for repayment while seeking the Idemili title. The chapter ends by noting Okonkwo’s rise as a wealthy, titled warrior and introduces the future sacrificial boy Ikemefuna. A war is called after the neighboring clan Mbaino murders a Umuofia woman; Okonkwo leads the emissary mission, returns with the boy Ikemefuna and a virgin as compensation; Ikemefuna is placed in Okonkwo’s household for three years, and the chapter details Okonkwo’s fear‑driven dominance, his large compound, and the emerging laziness of his son Nwoye. Okonkwo, lacking inheritance, secures seed yams from the wealthy titled man Nwakibie after pleading for help; he receives eight hundred seeds, then experiences a catastrophic agricultural year marked by severe drought, scorching heat, and later torrential rains that destroy crops, leaving him with only his seed yams to rebuild. The chapter also details Unoka’s fatal consultation with the Oracle Agbala, his death from swelling in the Evil Forest, and the supernatural rituals surrounding his burial. Okonkwo brutally beats his youngest wife Ojiugo during the sacred Week of Peace, incurring a public reprimand and a ritual penalty from the priest Ezeani, who demands specific offerings. The village elders recount the ancient severity of this offense. Afterwards Okonkwo prepares seed‑yams, endures unusually heavy rains, and leads his household in planting. Ikemefuna becomes fully accepted in Okonkwo’s family, bonding closely with Nwoye, while the community moves from planting to the brief lull before harvest. The New Yam Festival approaches, bringing elaborate preparations, a sacrifice, and a community feast followed by a wrestling contest. Okonkwo, still restless, beats his second wife Ekwefi over a trivial matter and mishandles his old gun, nearly shooting her. The household celebrates the festival; Ekwefi’s love of wrestling and her ten‑year‑old daughter Ezinma are highlighted, and other family members—Okonkwo’s first wife, Nwoye’s sister Obiageli, and Nkechi, the third wife’s daughter—appear for the meals and the contest. At the New Yam Festival wrestling contest, Maduka (Obierika’s son) wins the opening bout; later Okafo defeats Ikezue in the final, earning village acclaim. Ekwefi learns from priestess Chielo that Ezinma is healthy, and the conversation confirms Okonkwo’s earlier near‑shooting incident. Ikemefuna lives three years with Okonkwo’s family, becoming a brother to Nwoye and fostering Nwoye’s masculine habits; a great swarm of locusts arrives, providing a rare feast for the village; the Oracle of the Hills and Caves decrees Ikemefuna’s death, and despite an elder’s warning Okonkwo joins the party that kills him; Nwoye witnesses his father’s act, breaks down emotionally, marking his first profound loss. Okonkwo endures a two‑day fast and intense grief after Ikemefuna’s death; he seeks distraction by visiting Obierika, where they argue about the Oracle’s decree, the Ozo title, and the strange death of Ogbuefi Ndulue and his wife Ozoemena. The gathering then turns to the bride‑price negotiation for Akueke, resulting in a settled price of twenty bags of cowries. Ezinma falls ill with iba; Ekwefi calls the renowned medicine man Okagbue Uyanwa, who locates and destroys Ezinma’s iyi‑uwa beneath an orange tree, ending her ogbanje cycle and restoring her health; Ekwefi’s tragic history of ten children, nine of whom died, and her belief in ogbanje are revealed. The clan convenes an egwugwu ceremony where Uzowulu presents a bride‑price dispute involving his wife Mgbafo; Odukwe, Mgbafo’s brother, counters with accusations of repeated abuse. The egwugwu, led by the spirit Evil Forest, adjudicates, ordering Uzowulu to bring wine and his wife back and granting Odukwe’s sister’s return, after which a separate land case begins. During a moonless night, priestess Chielo of Agbala summons Okonkwo’s daughter‑like child Ezinma to the shrine; Ekwefi follows her through forest and caves, while Okonkwo later appears and comforts the women. The episode deepens Ekwefi’s maternal bond, shows the power of the oracle, and reveals a softer side of Okonkwo. Obierika celebrates his daughter Akueke’s uri (bride‑price) ceremony. The whole neighborhood gathers at Obierika’s compound; women cook massive quantities of foo‑foo, soup, yam pottage, and prepare two goats (one huge, bought from Umuike). Ekwefi, still exhausted from the previous night’s encounter with priestess Chielo, delays until her daughter Ezinma awakes before joining the procession. Okonkwo, sleepless from anxiety, makes several futile trips to the shrine searching for Chielo. A sudden cry alerts the women that a cow has been let loose; Chielo orders most to chase it, five remain to tend the fire. The cow is recovered, its owner pays the customary fine. Palm‑wine arrives in fifty pots from the bride’s family; the suitor Ibe and his elders sit in a half‑moon with the hosts. Akueke, her mother, and attendants appear in finery, kola nuts are offered, and a chorus of “Ee‑e‑e!” seals the alliance. A feast with large bowls of foo‑foo, yam pottage, and soup is held; torches light the night, songs praise the men (including Okonkwo as the greatest wrestler), and the bride dances holding a cock. At dawn the bride’s party departs for seven market weeks with the suitor’s family, and Okonkwo presents two cocks as parting gifts. Okonkwo’s gun explodes at the funeral of Ogbuefi Ezeudu, killing the elder’s sixteen‑year‑old son. The accidental killing forces Okonkwo to undergo female exile for seven years. He gathers his possessions, and with the help of Obierika and others carries his yams to Obierika’s barn. At dawn the clan’s warriors burn Okonkwo’s compound, destroy his property, and slaughter his livestock as the Earth goddess’s justice. Okonkwo, his wives and children flee to Mbanta, his mother’s village, while Obierika mourns the harshness of the law. Okonkwo and his three wives with their children reach Mbanta and are welcomed by Uchendu, who gives them land, help to build a new compound and seed‑yams. The first heavy rain revives the land, but Okonkwo feels his strength waning and questions his chi. Uchendu conducts the final rite of Amikwu’s bride‑price ceremony and then gathers the family to explain why the Igbo say “Mother is supreme,” stressing that a man seeks his mother’s protection in sorrow. He warns Okonkwo not to be overwhelmed by grief during his seven‑year exile. In Okonkwo’s second year of exile at Mbanta, his old friend Obierika arrives with two men bearing cowries—the proceeds from Okonkwo’s yams. Uchendu hosts the guests, offers kola nuts and strong palm‑wine, and the household enjoys a feast of pounded yams, bitter‑leaf soup, palm‑wine and water. Over the meal Obierika recounts the recent annihilation of the neighboring clan Abame by a band of white men, describing the first lone white visitor, the Oracle’s warning, and the later massacre at the market. Uchendu reflects on the loss of old inter‑clan friendships and warns against silencing danger. Obierka explains he has sold Okonkwo’s yams and returns the money, promising to continue doing so each year. The visit ends with light‑hearted jokes about killing a son or himself, reaffirming their bond despite looming colonial threats. Missionaries establish a church in Umuofia and spread to Mbanta, provoking ridicule from clan elders while captivating young Nwoye, who declares himself a Christian and feels estranged from his father; Obierika visits Okonkwo in exile, learns of Nwoye’s conversion from Nwoye’s mother, and witnesses the clash of the new faith with traditional beliefs. Missionaries secure a plot of the Evil Forest in Mbanta, build a church that inexplicably survives, gain early converts including Nneka, and Nwoye secretly joins them. Okonkwo violently confronts Nwoye, who flees to the missionaries and plans to study in Umuofia, leaving Okonkwo anguished and fearing the loss of his lineage. In Mbanta, the fledgling Christian church endures early crises, admits two outcast osu after they shave their taboo hair, and later faces clan ostracism following a disputed killing of the sacred royal python by a Christian named Okoli, whose subsequent death reinforces the villagers’ decision to exclude the Christians. Okonkwo’s seven‑year exile in Mbanta draws to a close. As the last heavy rains cease, he prepares to return to Umuofia. He has sent money to Obierika to build two huts in his old Umuofia compound and is waiting for the dry season to finish the construction. To thank his mother‑kin for their hospitality, he orders a large feast. Ekwefi supplies cassava, harvested with her daughter Ezinma and Ojiugo’s daughter Obiageli; Nwoye’s mother and Ojiugo provide smoked fish, palm oil and pepper; Okonkwo provides three goats, other meat and yams. The banquet, attended by the entire umunna (descendants of Okolo) and led by his maternal uncle Uchendu, features foo‑foo, yam pottage, egusi and bitter‑leaf soups, and abundant palm‑wine. Uchendu breaks the kola nut, prays for health and children, and warns the younger generation that the newly arrived Christian “abominable religion” threatens kinship and ancestral reverence. The chapter ends with the feast completed, Okonkwo’s gratitude expressed, and the looming cultural clash underscored. Okonkwo plans a grand return to Umuofia, reflects on his exile, and learns how missionaries and colonial courts have altered village life. Missionary Mr Brown builds a modest church, school and clinic in Umuofia, earning reluctant respect through medical aid and education. He engages in a respectful theological dialogue with the village elder Akunna, revealing common belief in the supreme deity Chukwu while debating the role of minor gods. The zealous convert Enoch, rumored to have killed the sacred python, is warned against excess. Brown’s school attracts not only idle children but also adults who work farms by day and study by afternoon; graduates become clerks, messengers and teachers, spreading Christian influence into the colonial administration. New churches and schools appear in neighboring villages, linking Christianity to the growing palm‑oil trade. By the first rainy season after Okonkwo’s return, Brown’s health fails and he departs for England, taking Nwoye (now called Isaac) to a teacher‑training college at Umuru. Okonkwo rebuffs Brown’s visit, threatens to drive him out, and finds his two daughters attracting suitors while the Ozo title ceremony he hoped for will not occur for two more years. Grieving both his personal loss and the softening of Umuofia’s warlike spirit, Okonkwo mourns the cultural disintegration he perceives. Reverend James Smith replaces Mr Brown as missionary in Umuofia, preaching a rigid black‑versus‑white theology and condemning local customs. He punishes a woman linked to an ogbanje child, dismissing the belief as devilish. Enoch, a zealous convert and son of the feared “snake‑priest,” provokes a crisis by unmasking an egwugwu during the annual earth‑goddess ceremony. The Mother of the Spirits weeps, and a massive gathering of masked ancestors—including Otakagu from Imo and Ekwensu from Uli—marches to Enoch’s compound, destroys it, and then assaults the mission. Smith, his interpreter Okeke, and the spirits confront each other; the chief egwugwu Ajofia addresses Smith, acknowledges the earlier missionary, demands the new church be razed, and offers a conditional peace. The church built by Mr Brown is reduced to earth and ash, leaving the clan temporarily appeased but the missionary presence shattered.