1835, Utica, New York. Newlywed Helen Galway discovers two runaway slaves hiding in the shack behind her husband's house and is suddenly faced with a terrible dilemma. Should she be a good wife and report the fugitives? Or should she help them? Meanwhile, Utica itself is caught between stark divisions as abolitionists arrive for the founding meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society and newspapers accuse the group of being insurrectionists...