[2] The story takes place in Senegal, sometime after the establishment of a European presence in the area but before the imposition of direct French colonial administration.

When local king Demba War sides with the Muslims, the Ceddo abduct his daughter, Dior Yacine, to protest their forced conversion to Islam.

Fearing their position is under threat, the local Imam inspires his Muslim followers to kill the king and the white Christian slave-traders.

[4] Along with a number of Sembène's other films, Ceddo was banned in Senegal for its presentation of the conflicts between the Islamic and Christian religions and ethnic and traditional beliefs.

[4] Sembène had also imposed a ban of his own, a refusal to make multiple prints of the film available to the agents of the Shah, for use in Iran as a propaganda weapon against the appeal of the Ayatollah Khomeini.