The life of Jonah Stapleton as told by himself. He escapes slavery from Shirley Plantation, on a journey that leads him to a depot of the Underground Railroad, where he accepts the fact that he is free. He adopts the African name of his birth, Shomari Abasi. He continues his journey, coming to the aid of two men, who introduces him to John Brown, where he becomes a participant in the raid on Harpers Ferry. Surviving the raid, Shomari goes to Philadelphia, but not for long. He returns to Shirley Plantation and takes his family North. In his wake, he leaves carnage. Once his family is settled in New York, Shomari once again undertakes a journey back to the South. In his attempt to help stop a cannon smuggling operation that aids the South, he is nearly killed. His recovery leads on a path through the Civil War, finally ending with the South’s surrender. Shomari returns home to New York and starts a family. But the ghost of the past never rests.