In pre-colonial times a peddler crossing the savanna discovers a child lying unconscious in the bush. When the boy comes to, he is mute and cannot explain who he is. The peddler leaves him with a family at the nearest village. After a search for his parents, the family adopts him, giving him the name Wend Kuuni (God’s Gift) and a loving sister with whom he bonds. Wend Kuuni regains his speech only after witnessing a tragic event that prompts him to reveal his own painful history.

One of the first films to adapt the measured rhythms of traditional African storytelling, Wend Kuuni recasts a precolonial tale of village life during the Mossi empire into a lyrical cinematic form. Kaboré uses a simple tale to demonstrate that the traditional Mossi values of community can still provide answers to many problems besetting modern Africa, fractured by rural dislocation and political conflict.