This story is about a slave named Persimmon, or Persy, who is brought to a plantation and meets another slave named Chloe. Young and attractive, and able to pass for white (which becomes relevant later in the story), Chloe is taken into the home of Mr. Wilson where she is brutally raped repeatedly. Persy and Chloe soon fall in love and Persy is tasked with making plans to run away from the plantation during the outbreak of the Civil War.

Aside from the love story that is occurring in this half of the book, Peacock depicts the horribly conditions slaves were working in. There are beating, whippings, deaths, and hunger. Of course, these are all things the average reader "knows" when they pick up the book but they are so vividly described that there are times where you're physically upset at these conditions. There is one particular instance when a slave's body will not fit into a pre-made coffin and

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Master Wilson has Persy stomp on the man's neck until it breaks so that his head can be pushed to the side to make him fit.

Persy and Chloe, unfortunately, do not escape the plantation before Wilson decides that he is going to take his remaining slaves and head West to Texas. (Personal note: Why are people always trying to run away to Texas??) The slaves are told to gather up livestock and other needed equipment and get it onto the boat. As Wilson is getting the women slaves from his home, one is afraid of the water and so

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he decides to just shoot her instead.

This is another moment where you're very, very upset (largely in part because you know in reality there were people that treated people like this).

Having caught Persy and Chloe together, which has been strictly forbidden since Wilson has taken Chloe on as his unwilling lover, Wilson warns them to stay away from each other. But when the two are found looking at each other longingly on the boat, Wilson tells Persy to get up. He leads him to the edge of the boat, shoots him in the shoulder, and leaves him for dead. Persy manages to get to shore where he stays with some other slaves that have stayed behind (and are now 'free' due to the ongoing Civil War and the Yankees occupying the area). He has a lover, but, he cannot keep from shouting Chloe's name at night so eventually that woman (poor lady) has to admit the relationship is not going to work out. He is offered a chance to stay though. While this seems like a decent arrangement, Persy still wants to go find Chloe.

Persy heads towards Texas and meets up with some other men that are traveling to Indian Territory, towards a ranch in Colorado. In a small town Persy actually bumps into Wilson, who tells him that Chloe died along the trail to Texas and this causes Persy much grief. Taking it for truth, he heads to Colorado. Tragedy follows and Persy ends up being the sole survivor of that venture. On his return trip he ends up getting caught by Comanche Indians.

Note: Those that know me are aware that I generally am very skeptical of authors using Native-American characters to propel their plots. Here, however, I do commend Peacock for attempting to include these characters while also humanizing them. She even inserts a note at the end of the novel suggesting that while she did consult dictionaries (for the language) and other sources, any faults in the representation of the Comanche are her own. I think these pieces were done rather tactfully, and so I do give her a 'thumbs up' for her work here.

Persy gets captured by the Indians and eventually is adopted into the tribe. Of course, on a raid they end up at Wilson's new home, where Persy does indeed kill him. He finds Chloe here though and takes her back to his encampment where the two rekindle their love for one another. This does not mean that things go smoothly though because eventually enter the colonizing soldiers that raid Indian camps, enslave women/children, and 'return' white captives to their proper civilization.

During one such event, Chloe is running with their young son and

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the baby falls and is trampled by horses. The child is instantly killed.

Persy manages to get Chloe away from the confusion but she is 5-6 months pregnant with their other child. He sees the ending of the Indian way and turns Chloe over to the white soldiers in hopes that they'll 'return' her (and their unborn child) to the 'civilized world.' The soldiers take Chloe and put Persy in prison--where he is told he will hang for killing Wilson, stealing horses, etc.

Chloe gives birth to the baby but

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the baby is stillborn and buried; Persy watches the burial from his cell.

With Persy in jail, and having been put back into civilization against her will, Chloe is stricken with grief. One morning she wakes up, bakes some biscuits, and then steals

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a gun and walks into the field where her stillborn son is buried. She shoots herself. Unfortunately, she is buried next to Wilson and their two children (both died of fever). Again, Persy can only watch from his cell.

Persy writes all of this story down from his cell, knowing that he will hang. But he decides that by the end of the novel death is all that is left. The slaves have been freed but.... not so much. The Indians are now being conquered. And his

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wife and children are all dead.

If you want a story that ends 'happily' this is not the novel for you. But if you want something gritty, painful, beautiful, and frustrating all at the same time--pick this up.