Fifteen-year-old Jaiye is an African tribesman who has grown up amid constant warring between his tribe, the Yoruba, and their neighbors. As he curiously watches Yoruba prisoners of war paraded to a slave ship, Jaiye contemplates their future and anxiously awaits his foray into manhood when he will fight in the same battles and marry the woman the village elders have chosen for him. Unfortunately, she is not the same woman Jaiye has chosen for himself.

Infatuated with a Yoruba girl named Kembi, Jaiye petitions his high priest father to help him change the elder's plans. When his...