For black slaves Big Ben (Jeremiah Trotter) and Moses (Thomas C. Bartley, Jr.), the only thing worse than the daily cruelty of life on a Virginia plantation is the fear of being hunted down and tortured as runaways. But when Ben learns he is about to be sold to a new owner, he and Moses make the desperate choice to run. Evading brutal slave hunters and with only the light of the North Star as their guide, the pair make the grueling journey across hostile land to the free state of Pennsylvania. And even when a community of kind-hearted abolitionists welcomes them, Ben and Moses realize that their perilous struggle for freedom continues.