Life should be happy for Moremi Ashanti with her comfortable life in Berkeley, California, a handsome and successful husband, Professor Peter Abosanjo, and a bright and joyful eight-year-old son - but something is wrong, and she doesn't know what or why. Ten years into her life in the U.S., Moremi remains haunted by the untimely deaths of her parents. Forced to leave her Nigerian homeland during the military regime, Moremi feels more than ever the loss of the friends and culture she left behind. Her ancestors and shapeshifting water spirit Mami Wata, ramp up their intrusive, cryptic warnings.

Confused and in need of help, Moremi finds an ally in psychologist Rebecca Calhoun, who understands dreams and the perilous implications of these warnings. Moremi and Rebecca are pulled into a tense cat and mouse game as they enlist a team of brilliant, but eccentric, friends to confront an agile, psychopathic assassin. They must solve the ultimate puzzle involving a chain of secrets and betrayals that began long ago. Ancestors encompasses a circuitous world of lies, political murder, corporate cover-ups and African Voudou that pulls unlikely American allies into a drama that plays out across Northern California, Washington State and Nigeria, ending with a final reckoning set in motion long before Moremi and Peter were born.