Ghetto Heart

Kess, a wealthy man grieving his late fiancée Zino, arranges a transactional surrogacy deal offering eight million naira to a woman willing to carry his child through IVF with no future contact. He auditions numerous candidates and dismisses those with emotional attachments. He chooses Ozioma, a sharp-tongued young woman from the Ajegunle ghetto, because she resembles Zino. Ozioma accepts purely for the money and signs a contract to move into his luxury home once pregnant. In Ghetto Heart, their cohabitation turns volatile as Kess's controlling behavior clashes with Ozioma's defiant independence. He polices her walking and eating and housekeeping and invokes Zino's memory as the ideal of submission and even strikes her during arguments. Ozioma fights back with words and fists and refuses to be subjugated. A pregnancy test confirms success and Kess pays the first four million. When Ozioma suffers a fall, a hospital visit shows the baby is healthy but Kess cruelly questions whether her relief comes from maternal instinct or financial incentive. Ozioma then reveals her traumatic past of childhood sexual abuse by her stepfather and maternal betrayal and a life of street survival that hardened her against men and motherhood. She confesses she never expected to love the child but now cannot imagine giving it up and pleads to remain in its life even if it means returning the money. Kess's friend Jubril challenges him to reconsider his transactional mindset and notes Ozioma's genuine transformation and her bond with the unborn child. Shaken by the challenge, Kess begins to change his behavior toward her. He cooks for her and buys gifts and shows patience in their daily routines. Table manners become his next lesson and he feels the baby kick and eventually proposes they raise the child together as a couple, admitting his heart has stubbornly fallen for her despite her razz ways. He acknowledges her trauma and vows to support her.