One dark night, an African father tells the story of another black night long ago when he, Momo, was a small boy?when he lay awake in his house in the bush, with his mother and grandmother and baby sister?when there came a knock on the door and evil crashed into his world. He tells of his strong, loving, gentle-hearted mother and her suffering to the very edge of death. And he tells of the old giant cottonwood tree that stood as a life spirit to them all. It is a story of beauty and tragedy, of a family confronting danger and dilemma, of a people enduring disorder and change. Its drama will hold the reader spellbound to the end.