On the eve of his daughter's betrothal to the Prince of the Saltlands, King Tsongor of Massaba finds himself face-to-face with his long-lost adopted son, Sambo Kerim, who claims his own right to Samilia's hand in marriage. As Sambo Kerim explains to the King, he and Samilia had taken a vow to marry back when they were small children, and he has come to stop her marriage to Prince Kouame, and take Samilia away. Faced with an impossible dilemma, King Tsongor orders his faithful servant Katabolonga to kill him that night, hoping that by ending his own life, he can avert a war. Before dying, the King gives Katabolonga instructions for each of his seven children: Samilia will be forbidden to marry either pretender, and the youngest son will travel the far reaches of the kingdom to erect seven monuments in commemoration of his father's life. Human passions and plans overcome the King's sacrificial gesture for peace however, and war descends on Massaba. And yet hope arrives, in the end, in the simple form of a promise kept.