In 1750, Kunta Kinte, son of Omore Kinte and his wife Binta, was born in Gambia. Kunta was educated according to the customs of the Madinka, a people from West Africa. He is a diligent student who hopes to go to university one day. After being captured, Kunta is sold to British slave traders in 1767 and transported to America. In Maryland he ends up in the hands of John Waller, owner of a tobacco plantation. Here he is given the slave name Toby. Kunta, however, refuses to accept this name, with all the consequences that entails...