An African country teeters on the edge of civil war, as a society prepares to drive out its colonial present and claim an independent future.

An African country teeters on the edge of civil war. A society prepares to drive out its colonial present and claim an independent future. Racial tensions boil over. Tshembe, returned home from England for his father's funeral, finds himself in the eye of the storm.

The experience of settlers, natives, and an American journalist in an unnamed African country in the waning days of colonial control. It uses both dance and music as signifiers of black and African cultures, a concept called the Black Aesthetic.