Birahima, a ten-year-old orphan from Guinea, tells with irony how he is thrown into tribal warfare while trying to reach his aunt in Liberia. Yacouba, a shady man, convinces him to become a child soldier, while he becomes a grigriman and witch doctor among the fighters. Shunted between enemy factions, Birahima grows up quickly and learns to distrust the stories that he's told.