The narrator describes how many men in Nigeria came to England in the late 1940s, just after World War II, to prepare for Nigerian independence. Many of these men, though coming to England for law degrees, ultimately settled into marriages with white women, forgetting their Nigerian families back in their home country. Mr. Noble is such a man, having left his six wives and 20 children in Nigeria to attempt becoming a lawyer in England. Mr. Noble had failed though, and he became a lift operator instead. His coworkers belittle him, and he becomes an alcoholic, eventually damaging his shoulder in attempting to do a trick in exchange for beer.

Using the pension from the lift operator job, Mr. Noble retires and buys a three-floor building with the intention of renting out the floors. However, two white women live in the top two floors with controlled rent, and they refuse to leave. Mr. Noble cannot get the courts to intervene, so he threatens them with African magic. Eventually, both women die during a rough winter, and Mr. Noble takes credit for their deaths. His boasting backfires when no new tenants want to live with him out of fear.