Peter has run away twice. This time the overseer on the large estate farm in colonial New York decides to use his cat-o-nine-tails on the slave to teach a more thorough lesson. His young apprentice, Martin Tucker, is horrified, but grows to learn the useful application of whipping for the most serious offenses, like running. After all, he is the only white person on the place. Sally is a 14-year-old slave newly arrived on the farm whom Tucker, now 30, chooses to become his mistress, but Sally loves a fellow slave, 16-year-old Lemuel. Over the next few years, Tucker impregnates Sally with five babies in quick succession. Sally eventually figures out a way to meet her lover, Lemuel-and gives birth to Polly, Lemuel's child. Sally's first five children resemble Tucker in coloring. Polly, on the other hand, is dark-skinned, like her mother and father, putting Sally in a dangerous situation. Will she be able to hide the existence of this child from Tucker?