Off Balance

Vanessa Gates, a wealthy and exacting businesswoman, interviews Clementine Sunday for the position of personal assistant and hires her after dismissing other candidates for trivial reasons. She imposes strict rules on Clementine: no perfume, no emotional displays, and absolute obedience. In Off Balance, Vanessa terrorizes her staff at her mansion, firing chef Patricia for making a sandwich she calls an identity crisis. She ends a dinner date with Ebenezer after he dabs her mouth with a napkin, and she says he touched her without consent. Daisy, a former employee she fired for being two minutes late, sues her, and Vanessa instructs her lawyer to counter-sue aggressively. Financial Crime Bureau officers arrive with a warrant, and her accounts and properties are frozen over fraudulent authorizations traced to her signature. Her lawyers abandon her, her wealthy friends refuse to help, and Clementine houses her in her two-bedroom flat in Aputu, where Vanessa struggles with local food she despises, noisy neighbors, and mockery from a neighbor named Princess. In a confrontation, Clementine tells Vanessa her downfall is a result of her cruelty. Clementine's brother, a doctor named Obina, teaches Vanessa to wash clothes by hand and takes her on a Keke ride. Vanessa and Clementine argue again, and Clementine lists Vanessa's past sins, and at the moment Vanessa faces further humiliation, she wakes up in her own bedroom and realizes the ordeal was a nightmare. She emerges transformed, stops firing staff over minor issues, sends a staff member named Daniel to the hospital for a check-up, asks Clementine for an honest description, and admits she hates who she has become. Vanessa orders her staff to drop the lawsuit against Daisy, reinstate her, and revise company policies to be less harsh. She meets Obina in person for the first time, and they share a warm conversation over drinks, where she recounts her strange dream and laughs about it.