After a tragic boating accident kills the owners of a plantation in the post-Civil War South, their four-year-old daughter, Ellen, is left orphaned. At the reading of the will, black couple Will and Hannah, whose family has lived and worked on the Mitchell plantation for generations, are shocked to learn they have inherited the land and the trusted charge of raising Ellen. Will and Hannah are humbled by the trust the Mitchells had in them, but terrified of the future without their guidance.

Despite protests from white landowners, Will and Hannah raise Ellen to adulthood along with their...