"... Some came running down from the highlands, afraid of a life of endless farming. Others came by way of the Great Rift Valley, hungry for a chance to become Nation Builders. Others still, crossed borders, desirous of a new life in the metropolitan heart of East Africa. See, to be a Nairobian in the 90s was to be struck with the ravenous lunacy that plagues only the alchemist ..."

The women of the Mathai, Mutiso and Karanja families, are consummate Nairobians, believing they can make gold out of the metal of their lives.

Neighbours in an idyllic middle-class neighbourhood, Malaba Estate, South B, their lives become inextricably bound in friendships and enmity, shared secrets and regrets. Yet, in this idyllic setting, none of the families is as they seem. As the decade charges on, the lives of these women become inextricably bound in friendships and enmity, shared secrets and regrets.

When the families are brought together again in 2012, their secrets threaten to unravel their friendships and their lives. As they revisit their past in an effort to save their present, they discover that ...

"... Maybe, sometimes, love heals, or at the very least, sustains ... "