Joseph Walker is born into slavery on a Tennessee cotton plantation in 1846, but his circumstances are mitigated by the fact that he lives in the bosom of a loving family, surrounded by a supportive slave community. That all changes when he is sold to Jackson Budreau, a Louisiana sugarcane farmer, at the age of nine. Joe's life becomes a living hell, marked by daily aggressions that scar his body and his soul.The advent of the Civil War provides Joe the opportunity to escape from h...