Orphaned and enslaved on a sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Martinique, Abeje and her brother Adunbi survive by the kindness of fellow bondsmen and through their uncommon abilities-Adunbi with animals, and Abeje with healing plants.
Years later, when Adunbi's daughter Hetty is taken away to Canada, she gains her freedom and marries Dax Rougeaux, an ambitious mul tre saddler, beginning the powerful Rougeaux family line.
Among Hetty's children, grandchildren, and beyond, differ.