"Life" opens in 1963, a period when all Botswana-born citizens living in South Africa were forced to return to their native country. Many of the people who are sent back had settled in the cities, but they return to villages in the rural countryside.

One woman forced to return to Botswana is Life. She left her native village when she was only ten years old and went with her parents to Johannesburg. Even though her parents have died by the time Life returns to the village (seventeen years later), the family's land is still unoccupied, as is village custom. The neighbor women help Life put her yard in order because weeds and grass have overtaken the ground and the mud huts are in disrepair. The women are impressed with Life's urbanity. They believe she will bring new ideas to their village.

They also notice that Life has...