SYNOPSIS: Word of the Emancipation Proclamation reaches a Virginia plantation, and the enslaved Zachary tells his wife Delia that they are going to escape that night and head North. He is an abusive husband and orders his wife to pack a few things while he steals some food from the plantation’s larder. But the submissive Delia realizes that life with Zachary up North is not freedom. She tells him that she is going North on her own, and he laughs at her. When he leaves to get food, Delia puts a treasured family chest on her back and starts on her journey alone.