Khumbi is a young Bantu herd boy suffering from a drought and famine. He is sold to a Swahili trader and taken from his surviving family to Angola, where is traded to a Mbundu family. He develops a relationship with their daughter but is sold again to the Swahili trader. He is captured by land-pirates who engage in ritual cannibalism. He is trained as a child soldier and excels in his new role, acquiring two concubines and senior warrior status. He is distraught over their eventual loss, participates in significant historical battles in both Angola and Brazil, where he is taken as a mercenary. His adventures include joining the largest community of escaped slaves in the Americas, and traversing the length of Brazil with a Tupi Indian trader and his family mostly by canoe. He has always had few choices in life, but now is able to find a loving wife and a new, free life among the Caribs of St. Vincent Island in the Caribbean.
