Inspired by true life events, in the Oyo Empire in the 1940's, Elesin Oba, the king's chief horseman, succumbs to the lure of beauty and sexual desire on the very evening he is set to die in order to fulfil his lifelong debt of ritual suicide to accompany the dead Alaafin to the realm of the ancestors, he derails from a very important generational and spiritual transaction. This sets in motion a series of catastrophic consequences, in a spell-binding film of emotions, humour, and tragic role reversals that puts ancient beliefs and customs on trial in an ever increasingly post-modern and Western world.

影片根据ChimamandaNgoziAdichie所著同名小说改编故事背景设置在从20世纪60年代到70年代比拉夫战争结束的十年，尼日利亚因战争而分裂，上百万人丧生。影片的5个主人公不同的生活交织在一起。随着冲突的深化，战争地区的伊博人不断遭受饥饿、卫生条件差以及暴力的威胁，友情和忠诚受到严峻考验。