A young female slave is risking her life and the life of her six-year old son to escape slavery. Clutching on to a log she struggles to paddle herself and her son across the river to Ohio and freedom. Exhausted by the cool water, she looses her grip and is swept away to her death. Miraculously, her son, who is still clasping onto the log, finally washes ashore on the northern bank of the Ohio River. The youngster's good fortune continues when he is found by a Quaker Abolitionist couple who warm him, feed him, and welcome him into their home.
Fortune runs out for the boy when the situation comes to the attention of authorities.
Besides that, the boy's father is still resident on the slave owner's plantation. Repatriation of the young boy would reunite the family. With his owner at his side, the father pleads for the boy to come back. The Quaker couple have no legal leg to stand on. They are not relatives.