After a sacrifice, the Council of State of the town of Orua hold a meeting. The council members are Ozidi (Senior), Ofe the Short, Azezabife the Skeleton Man, Agbogidi the Nude and Oguaran the Giant. Within 4 years, 6 kings have died mysteriously in the town. The council says it's the turn of Ozidi's family to produce the next king. Ozidi refuses to be king but his idiotic older brother Temugedege wanders in drunk and agrees to be king.
Five days later, the council and the townspeople are yet to salute him or bring him tribute. Ozidi complains but they mock him. Ofe later organises a raid to get the tribute, but with an ulterior motive. Ozidi leaves his young wife of less than a year and goes for the raid but his head is cut off by the other council members and sent to Temugedege as tribute. Orea almost commits suicide before an old woman stops her and spirits her to Ododama, her mother Oreame's hometown. Orea doesn't know she is pregnant but later gives birth to a son, Ozidi. Oreame is a witch with magical powers.
One day, Ozidi's peers taunt him for having no father. He queries his mother and grandmother. While strolling in the forest one day, Oreame takes on various shapes (hill, leopard,etc) to test Ozidi's courage. He soon becomes brave. She also takes him to Bouakarakarabiri or Tebekawene (the old wizard of the forest) to give him charms. Ozidi gets there before Oreame and Tebekawene tries to kill him for food before Oreame comes to rescue him. The wizard tells Ozidi to pound an eagle, a lizard, a monkey and some other ingredients into a paste. Ozidi is given the paste to eat. Any time he is to fight, the charm will heat up his stomach. He is also made bullet-proof, machete-proof and spear-proof. A 7-pronged sword is made for him by a blacksmith.
Oreame, Orea and Ozidi go back to Orua to avenge Ozidi's father's death. They meet Temugedege alive as a decrepit and unkempt old man. Ewiri tells the council members about Ozidi's return and they get ready for him. One day, Ozidi lies down at a crossroads in the market and pretends to be asleep. The wives of Azezabife, Oguaran and Ofe trip on him, rain insults on him and recall how their husbands killed Ozidi (senior) for his "stubbornness". They think Ozidi (junior) is a stranger. Ozidi then wakes up, seizes their headties and upper wrappers and discloses his identity to them. He wrestles with and kills their husbands later. The other enemies are either maimed or on the run. Still, he is hungry for more fights.
One day, Ewiri tells Ozidi that Tebesonoma of the 7 heads wants to fight with him. However, he has also told Tebesonoma that Ozidi wants to fight with him. With the help of Oreame's magic, Ozidi cuts off all of Tebesonoma's heads. With his last breath, Tebesonoma threatens that his sister has just had a son who will avenge him the way Ozidi avenged his own father. Oreame and her grandson go straightaway to the house of Tebesonoma's sister, a 40-year-old woman who has just had her first child after 23 years of marriage. She sends for her husband, Agonosin, but a mysterious thunderbolt kills him on the way. Oreame and Ozidi kill the sister and her son and vanish.
Ozidi abducts Odogu's wife and tries to sleep with her but she successfully fends him off. Odogu and Ozidi go into a duel. But because Tebekawene has given Odogu the same charm he has given Ozidi to eat, neither can defeat the other for days. Azema (Odogu's mother) and Oreame also can't defeat each other. Tebekawene appears and says that the son of the mother who first gets a certain magic leaf from the forest (and squeezes it into the son's eyes) will win. Oreame gets the leaf first. Ozidi cuts Odogu down but he mows down his own grandmother as well! He has been blinded by the herb squeezed into his eyes.
Engarando,the Smallpox king, and his retinue come from the sea in a barge, dock at the beach of Orua and inflict Ozidi with smallpox. All the people of Orua, except Orea and Ozidi, flee the town. Orea washes her son to scrub the "yaws" on his body. The smallpox king is angry that Orea thought her son's sickness was ordinary yaws. Therefore, he and his retinue push off their barge into the sea and vow never to return to Orua.
