In the west African village of Lai, red-haired Gbessa is cursed at birth and exiled on suspicion of being a witch. Bitten by a viper and left for dead, she survives to discover a new life with a group of African American settlers in the colony of Monrovia.

The proud Republic of Liberia was founded in the nineteenth century with the triumphant return of the freed slaves from America to Africa, yet where men should have stood shoulder to shoulder, they turned on each other instead. Nevertheless, in the midst of turmoil, there is friendship.