A Living Shadow and a Dream Girl takes a look at an age-long moral tradition called the Erim of the people from the ancient town of Bende. The story is about a young man born in material affluence and a young woman of humble birth. Jerome grows in the awareness of the inescapable consequences of the Erim, thanks to a revelation his mother made to him concerning his paternity when he was still an infant. He begins to doubt his paternity after his mother's revelation, and out of fear, he neglects the wealthy background to which he is born, much to the astonishment of his people. He instead chooses to live a petty and servile life. Unaisi is a humble, beautiful and industrious young woman. She is loved and admired by all, irrespective of the talks of the abominable acts her ancestors committed. Jerome is very amiable and trades jokes with both old and young, and He playfully begins to woo Unaisi. But Unaisi, like other young women of her age, despises a lazy man as a husband. Jerome decides to turn a new leaf in order to impress her; he travels to the city to seek to improve his image, eventually returning and marrying Unaisi. Suddenly, Unaisi's only elder brother is rumoured to have been killed by no other than her own husband, Jerome. This singular event, amongst other happenings against their dreams of a happily married life, reveals to them that their union as husband and wife is, according to their custom, an abomination against Erim. They discovered too late ...