The story begins in 2002 in Gulu, Uganda, with a 14-year-old boy named Jacob kicking a soccer ball against the side of his house. He’s accompanied by his friend Tony. Unlike Jacob, Tony comes from a poor family and lives in the slums. After a while, the family’s housekeeper and cousin, Ethel, calls Jacob and Tony inside the house, as Jacob’s father is expecting guests. Jacob’s house is located inside a large compound surrounded by a six-foot high wall, containing homes for the servants as well as Jacob’s family. The two boys watch the guests arrive and wonder who they are.

The boys are questioned by Jacob’s father’s friend, whose name is Musa Henry Torac. Jacob tells Musa Henry Torac that he and Tony are classmates who are set to leave for the George Jones Seminary for Boys the following morning. After Musa Henry Torac heads inside the house, Jacob’s father reveals that his grandson was kidnapped by Joseph Kony, the infamous and violent leader of the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army. Ethel sends Jacob inside to prepare to talk to his father, and as Jacob heads down the hallway, he thinks about his mother, who passed away some years before.