In 1798, Daniel Dickinson, a young Quaker father and widower, leaves his home in Pennsylvania to establish a new life. He sets out with two horses, a wagonful of belongings, his five children, a 15-year-old orphan wife, and a few land warrants for his future homestead. An avid abolishonist, Daniel trades a horse for a young slave, Onesimus, intending to free him, and it sets in motion a struggle in his conscience that will taint his life forever, and it also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to two murders and the family's strange relationship with a runaway slave named Bett. Stripped down and as hardedged as the realities of pioneer life, Spalding's writing is nothing short of stunning, as it instantly envelops the reader in the world and time of the novel, and follows the lives of unforgettable characters.