In an African city, a nameless young woman living in the wards slowly begins to lose her identity: her skin color is peeling off, people are becoming invisible, and the city plans to destroy the train where they bury their dead. After the narrator, who is never named is given a warning by her grandmother's dreamskin, things begin to fall apart. Her brother is called Brother, her girlfriend is called Girlfriend, cementing the loss of names, language and culture. Struggling to hold onto a fluctuating reality, she prescribes herself insomnia in a desperate attempt to save her family.