Detroit, 1858
Runaways hidden in the barn, slave-catchers lodged in the hotel, and Emily caught in the middle.
After a tantrum, Emily Preston’s parents ship her from her plantation home to an inn-keeping uncle in Detroit. There she meets Malachi, son of freed slaves, who challenges many ideas she grew up believing. But when Emily stumbles upon two runaways hidden in her uncle’s barn, she finds that old ways die hard. And Mr. Burrows, the charming Southern slave catcher, is only yards away, lodged in the hotel.