When twelve-year-old Congolese boy, Joseph Muamba, is sold to a wealthy American family he wants to die.
Eventually, he comes to love the family and lives the life of the all-American boy. However, he cannot rid himself of a nagging feeling that he has a greater calling in life.
Fourteen years later he competes at the Beijing Olympics for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and wins his birth country’s first-ever medal – gold in the decathlon. However, the nagging feeling persists, not satisfied with Olympic gold.
Revered, he returns to the Congo as a guest of the president but is horrified when he discovers Westerners and the Chinese are bribing politicians and plundering the country’s mineral wealth.
Bribery, corruption, rape, and murder are the norm in the Congo. When the poor, oppressed people protest, they are imprisoned or killed.
Finally, Joseph realizes what his calling is, but it involves risking his life, and the lives of those whom he loves.
Endless twists and turns will have you chewing your fingernails.