After being discovered by prominent composer Gabriel Donozetti (Esme Percy), black laborer John Zinga (Paul Robeson) rises to international stardom as an opera singer in spite of widespread racism. Feeling uneasy, however, in a racially divided society, Zinga turns down a prestigious New York singing contract and instead journeys to his ancestral African homeland. When Zinga is met as an outsider even there, he must struggle for acceptance among the aboriginals from which he descended.