Kunta, one of the newest men of Juffure back from his manhood training, marvels at his own loneliness. He is bewildered by it because he knows every man, woman, child, even every animal in his Mandinka village. Kunta is also confused because his farm plot and its spoils fail to provide complete happiness, too. How could a man with all of these blessings be lonely? 

Thinking on it further, Kunta realizes his loneliness has roots in his own immediate family. Omoro doesn't have time for Kunta. Binta doesn't either (in that she has Kunta's three younger brothers to look after). Lamin is no longer close with Kunta because when Kunta went away to manhood training, Suwadu became Lamin's little charge, just as Lamin became Kunta's only a few rains ago.

Even worse, Kunta feels like the older men of Juffure are giving the newly made men only "the appearance of respect, as they had been given only the appearance of responsibility." Kunta knows that he and the other young men are being laughed at because of their thorough inspections of the cooking pots and the well. Kunta Kinte vows that when he gets into the Council of Elders when he is older, he will look with compassion upon the young men in the village.

Lost in his reverie, Kunta walks around his village in the evening. He doesn't feel at home at any of the warm fires. First, Kunta hides close to the first fire and listens to a grandmother telling the little ones stories of Mandinka warriors from the past. The same stories that used to thrill Kunta now only serve to make him sad. Then Kunta walks past the fire where Lamin is reciting verses from the Koran and the fire where Binta gossips with the other wives and women of the village. Finally, Kunta approaches the fire where the men of Juffure sit. Not feeling welcome, Kunta takes up the outer edge in order to listen.

The Mandinka men of Juffure are deep in conversation about the toubob (white man). The talk scares Kunta. The men are asking, How many have been stolen away? Where have they been stolen away? How many others (whom they may not have heard of) have also been stolen away? What other horrors have the toubob committed in the villages of the Gambia? No one is sure of any of the answers because they can hear only as far as the closest drumbeat and the most recent traveler.

Suddenly the talk turns to something more sinister: the traitors among themselves. The men are worried most about the black "slatee traitors" who "for toubob money . . . turn against our own kind." Kunta remembers his father's advice not to trust anyone he doesn't know personally. Kunta understands how the slatee can be convinced because the toubob "lies for nothing and cheats with method." 

Soon the fire is extinguished and Kunta and the other young men are given the first watch of the night outside the safety of the village. Kunta spends the night listening to the sounds of his native land and hoping that no slave catchers are near. Still, it's the first night in a long while when Kunta isn't obsessed with his own loneliness.