A con man is more interested in cash than cultural identity who hits upon a way to profit from his culture's longing for its roots.

Soon after being forced out of the Rise and Shine Baptist Church in Logan, Mississippi, by newcomer Deacon Charcoal Johnson, the kindhearted, old Deacon Jones dies of a broken heart. Troubled by the takeover, Mary Lou Lawton, one of the parishoners, tells her boyfriend, Sug Jackson, that Johnson is nothing but a crooked backslider. When Johnson holds a meeting at the Masonic Hall to lead the "Back to Africa Movement," promising his parishoners great fortune on the African continent, Sug informs white judge Allan Lee that Johnson is planning to take workers off the plantations. The judge orders the sheriff to raid the meeting, and in the confusion, Johnson flees with the parishoners' money. He takes refuge at Mary Lou's house, where he proposes marriage to her. Sug tries to help Mary Lou, but she resents his forceful manner and takes the side of the desperate Johnson. Soon, a crowd of angry parishoners gathers at Mary Lou's demanding a return of their money, and when they storm her bedroom, they find that Johnson has fled. Time passes, and Johnson and Mary Lou turn up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Johnson has established himself as a reigning religious sovereign, calling himself the Emperor of the United States of Africa, and Mary Lou is his queen. Johnson and Mary Lou expand their empire and travel to Kansas City and Chicago, where they are feted by the city's social elite. Meanwhile, attorney Stephen Carmichael and his associates decide that Johnson is gaining too much influence in the black community and vow to put a stop to his movement. After failing in his attempt to lure Mary Lou away from Johnson by disrupting a parade in his honor, Sug pleads with her not to board the ship bound for Africa and tells her that he loves her. A grand farewell ceremony for those about to depart to Africa is stormed by Sug and his pals, who threaten to explode the place unless he is heard. When the room falls silent, Sug exposes Johnson's lies, telling the crowd that no country has agreed to accept them. The crowd then turns on Johnson, who is immediately deposed, and Sug and Mary Lou embrace in a kiss.