Bata an eleven-year-old girl tormented by nightmares wakes up one night to find herself
standing sentinel before her cousin's door. Her skin hair and eyes have turned a dazzling
white colour which even the medicine-man can't heal. Her cousin is to get married the next
morning but only if she can escape the murderous attack of a ghostbride who used to be
engaged to her groom. Through the night Bata battles the vengeful ghost and finally vanquishes
it before collapsing. On awakening she has no recollection of the events. And when the
medicine-man tries to exorcise the entities clinging to her body as a result of her
supernatural possession Bata dies on the exorcism mat. There begins her journey. She is taken
into Ibaja-La the realm of dead brides by Mmu?-Ka-Mmu? the ghost-collector of the spirit
realm. There she meets the ghosts of brides from every culture who died tragically before their
weddings both the kind and the malevolent. Bata is given secret powers to fight the evil
ghost-brides before being sent back to the human realm where she must learn to harness her new
abilities as she strives to protect those whom she loves.
