There are five sections in this novel. The first section occurs in the winter of 1976 in Kingston, Jamaica. In the opening prose, we learn about Bob Marley, a musician regarded as a religious prophet by many in his society. Kingston is waiting in anticipation for Marley's famous two day peace concert. Some believe he is secretly political, but Marley is unaffiliated.
The political party in power is the People's National Party, the PNP, and there is another party who is vying for power called the Jamaica Labor Party, the JLP. We meet Bam-Bam, a young cocaine addict, and also Josey Wales, a gangster who contracts to do the dirty work for the JLP. Josey is hired to assassinate "The Singer," (Bob Marley). He works under Papa-Lo.
There is a CIA agent named Barry Difloria who goes to Jamaica with Alex Piece, an American reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine. Piece has witnessed Marley hanging out with both Papa-Lo, but also the rival PNP gang leader, Shotta Sherrif. Nina Burgess is Marley's girlfriend (although he is married, he has many girlfriends), and when she attempts to convince him not to do the concert, for fear of assassination, she is stopped. She ends up arrested by police.
In the second section, Papa-Lo and Josey have drifted. Papa-Lo has become more politically minded, while Josey has fallen under the tutelage of Doctor Love who works in explosives. They begin working for the Medellín Cartel. Barry Difloria is concerned about these developments as he spies on the gangs. Alex is fired by the Stone and begins working with Mark Lansing, the director of the FBI's son. They begin a documentary about Bob Marley and his affect on Jamaica.
Bam-Bam gets extremely high on cocaine and attacks Marley's house with the gang. Josey, having grown away from the gang, turns on them, and Papa-Lo is buried, while Bam-Bam is buried underground and left to suffocate to death.
Meanwhile, Nina knows the police will likely rape her (the government is incredibly corrupt), but instead they let her free, but she is quickly attacked by members of her family who are embarrassed that she sleeps with the Singer. She walks to Marley's home to ask him if he will help her escape Jamaica, but when she arrives, the chaos at the home is just ending.
In the third section, Nina has chosen to go by an alias, Kim Clarke. She has a very disappointing fling with a man named Chuck, under the pretense that he will take her back to America, but she discovers that he has no intent to do that. She lights his house on fire.
Barry now works in Argentina in Cold War efforts. We learn that Papa-Lo was not involved in the attacks on Marley, and he learns that the attacks were actually planned by the Cartel and by the American CIA. He attempts to convince Marley to return violence with violence, but Marley chooses non-violence. As Papa-Lo leaves Marley's house, the police assassinate him in cold blood.
Alex, the reporter, is at a hotel room in Brooklyn when a stranger arrives. They fight, and Alex wins, killing the assailant.
In Jamaica, Josey tells JPL party leaders that the Singer will start a rival political party of his own, a Rastafarian party. He decides to take the gang's activities to New York City.
In the fourth section, Bob Marley has suddenly died of cancer in his foot. The JLP are in charge, and Nina goes by a new pseudonym, Dorcas Palmer. She works in New York caring for an old man named Ken who is crass and enjoyable. She tells him the truth about her identity theft, and he immediately suffers a spell of severe amnesia. She realizes she will never be caught by him.
Josey arrives in New York to see about his drug trafficking operation. Weeper is his second in command, but Weeper discovers that he is gay, and he falls in love with a man, so Josey operates alone. A man named Eubie tells Josey that Weeper's team of dealers has begun using the cocaine instead of selling it. Josey murders many dealers in his crack house.
Alex learns from a man in Rikers Island Prison that the peacemakers between the two Jamaican gangs have all died. Clearly, a war is brewing. Alex realizes that the book he wants to write about Bob Marley will likely mean him becoming a target.
The Medelliín Cartel hires John-John to kill Weeper. When John-John arrives, the two men talk openly about the hit, and the share some time talking to each other about homosexuality—it turns out they are both gay. John-John kills Weeper with an overdose.
In the fifth section, Nina is a nurse in the Bronx, now going by Millicent Segree. She has worked hard to lose her accent, but when a Jamaican victim comes to the ICU with a gunshot wound, Nina snoops around and learns that Josey has been arrested. She panics, remembering the attack on Marley's home.
Alex wrote his story in four parts, A Brief History of Seven Killings and it publishes in the New Yorker literary magazine. Sure enough, the publication leads to gang attention, and at his home, Eubie and several others arrive. They mention him murdering their mercenary, and they brutally beat him until he will say that Josey shot Marley. Eubie shoots Alex in his foot and departs.
In prison, Josey talks with his son Benji who runs his business until one day, Benji is shot. At the hospital, they fail to save him, and an angry mob erupts around the hospital. Doctor Love visits Josey in Prison, and Josey plays as if he's still in charge, but Love realizes that Eubie must be in charge. Josey loses his temper and attacks Doctor Love, but he gives Josey pills, and Josey takes them.
Nina, called Milicent, reads in the morning news that Josey was set on fire and burned to death in his jail cell. She vomits and calls her sister.
