Moses Al Shabazz is the impoverished leader of a small religious commune, the Star of Six, in Miami. The commune has three other members: Moses’s wife Venus, and followers X and Afrika. It worships deities including Allah, “Black Santa”, and General Toussaint Louverture. Moses preaches a black uprising against the white oppressors, but opposes the use of firearms. He has been prescribed anti-psychotic medication, but does not take it, as it “makes him drowsy”.
Agent Kendra Glack of the FBI comes across one of Moses’s live-streamed sermons, and decides that he will make an ideal dupe on whom to pin revolutionary activities. When Moses is served an eviction notice by his landlord, Kendra sends Reza, a pedophilic shopkeeper now working undercover for the FBI, to claim that his relative, a sheikh affiliated with Al-Qaeda, would be willing to supply money and firearms to Moses. Reza sets up a meeting between Moses and the supposed sheikh (in fact another FBI informant, Nura), but Moses initially asks only for farm equipment and a horse. However, having appreciated how much money the guns represent, he subsequently agrees to accept 100 Kalashnikov rifles.
Venus is horrified at these dealings, and leaves the commune with their daughter, even though Moses has promised not to use the guns. Moses witnesses a lightning strike destroy a crane, which he interprets as a sign from God. On the day of the exchange, the FBI prepare to arrest him for the illegal gun deal, but he rides to the FBI headquarters on his horse and attempts to turn in the dealers for a reward. He meets with Kendra before leaving: she shows sympathy for his situation, but says she can’t help him. When Moses returns to his commune, he finds his followers have been evicted. His landlord agrees to let him return in exchange for procuring weapons-grade uranium from the sheikh; and the FBI sees this as an opportunity to have him arrested for attempting to use a nuclear device.