The television adaptation of Alex Hailey's bestselling novel (based on his own family's roots) offers a dramatic portrayal of African-American history, from the time of the slave trade to the American Civil War. The story begins in The Gambia, West Africa, and a new Mandike warrior is born to Binta and Omoro called Kunta Kinte. When a grown man, Kunta Kinte is kidnapped by slavers and taken to America where he struggles to come to terms with being a slave for many years. Eventually he accepts he cannot return to Africa and settles down to create a family. The story then follows the next generations of Kunta Kinte's family until the abolition of slavery after the Civil War.