The novel follows the harrowing journey of Amari, a 15-year-old girl from the Ewe tribe in West Africa. Her peaceful village life is shattered when white slave traders, aided by the Ashanti tribe, brutally attack and murder her family and fellow villagers. Amari is captured, shackled, and forced to endure the torturous march to Cape Coast, where she witnesses the horrors of the slave trade firsthand.
Amari is then transported across the Atlantic on the infamous "ship of death," subjected to inhumane conditions, starvation, and repeated rapes by the crew. Her only solace comes from her friendship with Afi, an older captive who mentors her with words of strength and hope. Upon reaching Sullivan's Island, Amari is sold at auction to a plantation owner as a birthday gift for his son, Clay Derby.
The narrative alternates between Amari's perspective and that of Polly, an indentured white servant tasked with training Amari on the Derby plantation. Despite their differences, the two form an unlikely bond as they endure the cruelties of slavery and racism, eventually risking everything to escape towards the promise of freedom at Fort Mose, a Spanish colony in Florida.

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