Esther used to be uninterested in study but with the effort of her father especially, that has become a thing in the past. She was now independent and doesn't rely on anyone during examinations. This however is not the case for other members of the class. Apart from the fact that the exam hall is always in a state of rowdiness, Esther did not think it is the best for the future of the nation and so she plans to do everything to stop it. This would not be easy considering that the teachers and school authority supports this. They think it will boost the name of the school when every student passes in flying colors howbeit the means.

And so students copy freely from their neighbors during the mock examination. Some smuggle text and note books in. A few bring in strips of paper where key points had been jotted in. They use it when the teacher is looking the other way.

She is called names when she says point blank that she does not cheat in examinations. The students know that her weakness is mathematics. They wonder what she will do when that great day comes.

Still worried, Esther speaks to her father about the cheats. Her father's asks her to change them. This isn't possible to her until in the exams halls where events push her to limits.

Foreign materials exchange hands with the noise attendant. Somebody close to her is asked to stand up because he is caught with a notebook. Surprising enough it is Esther's notebook. The teacher tags Esther as an accessory to cheating and nothing she says convinces him. She is sent out of the exam hall with the boy who is not in the least moved or apologetic. When the math result comes out, she failed. She is ridiculed and taunted by her class mates on the result. No one is sympathetic considering that it was not her fault. Now Esther has to really do something.

She tries to snatch the materials from the cheats herself since the teachers won't see or be up to their tasks but her teachers only catches her act of violence and supposes that she wants to collect it to steal from. She is sent out of the exam hall once again without finishing up her exam.

She tries to win the cheats over by using speech-giving Wednesday. To point out the ills and the danger they were doing to themselves if not presently, in the long run. But she is mocked and ridiculed. The students are still bent on following that old path of cutting corners to success.

Junior WAEC day comes and the teachers, invigilators and supervisors aid and abet the examination malpractice. The teachers read out the answers after the external invigilators have been bribed.
Since every means has failed, Esther had to go to the police and then the media. The Police's main function is to search the students removing all forms of foreign materials. This reduces cheating severity a great deal but not completely.

What eventually kills it is the effort of some men in suits seen going around the exam hall. They are people from the Natural Light Newspapers. They take snapshots and record proceedings. In a piece they caption the 'student cheat of the day' Alonge's picture surfaces with heavy words much disgrace to the school and the students. Now no one wants to be on the newspapers for the bad reasons. Everyone has to behave. No one knows where the men and women in suits are standing and watching.