Warren Maxwell, the desperate owner of a dilapidated plantation, insists that his son, Hammond, marry to secure an heir. Hammond chooses his cousin, Blanche, but soon after their honeymoon, he acquires a sex slave. To further his father's ambitions, he also purchases Mede, a new Mandingo slave, intending to train him as a formidable prize-fighter. The dynamics of race, power, and family loyalty intertwine, revealing the dark undercurrents of plantation life and the lengths to which one will go to maintain legacy and control.