The novel opens in May of 1776 in Newport, Rhode Island. Enslaved sisters 13-year-old Isabel and five-year-old Ruth, who has an intellectual disability, are traveling to a funeral for Mary Finch, their owner. Mary’s callous nephew Robert came to town immediately upon hearing of Mary’s illness, eager to snatch up her fortune: “Mr. Robert Finch was filled up with trouble from his dirty boot to the brim of his scraggly hat” (4). During the funeral, Isabel steals away to visit the unmarked grave of her mother, who died of smallpox one year earlier. Isabel has brought her mother offerings of flowers and an oatcake, and though she is very hungry, she places the oatcake at the grave. She speaks to her mother as if she were present, hoping for a sign or message to tell her what to do. All she receives is silence, but before she can listen long, Robert Finch barks at her to come pray for Mary.

In her will, Mary has specified that Isabel and Ruth are to be released from slavery. After the funeral, Isabel broaches this subject, but Robert disbelieves her, and when she asks to contact the lawyer to see the will, he says the lawyer has been detained in Boston.