Cuffee, a highly-educated house slave in 1712 New York City, carries a burning resentment for his bondage toward his highly mercurial master despite repeated warnings from his "auntie" a voo-doo priestess, who tries to make him understand that he runs the danger of being sent to the dreaded island where slave owners send their "troublesome slaves" to be broken. When a new shipment of blacks arrives to be sold at auction, he meets Lilly, a beautiful and haughty woman who carries a fiery hatred for slavery, and Cuffee's desire for freedom bursts into flame as the two begin a passionate affair....