In 1964, Carolina Military Institute admits its first black student, and senior class member Will must protect him from a secret society of cadets dedicated to eliminating from the school those it deems unfit.

Lily Owens is a young girl who lives on the peach farm that her abusive father owns. Rosaleen is a black woman hired by Lily's father to be a stand-in mother for Lily. When Rosaleen and Lily walk into town they are approached by some white men. Rosaleen insults these racists by standing up for her rights. The angry men give her a beating and she ends up in the hospital. Lily's father rescues Lily but not Rosaleen so Lily talks Rosaleen into running...

Follows several generations in the lives of a slave family. The saga begins with Kunta Kinte, a West African youth captured by slave raiders and shipped to America in the 1700s. The family is depicted up until the Civil War, when Kunte Kinte's grandson gains his emancipation.