Content Warning: The Chapter 4 Summary of this section includes instances of sexual assault and coercion.

Dana recalls when she and Kevin first met while working at an auto body shop; both worked a minimum-wage job to support their writing career. He was 12 years older than she was and had just garnered a book deal.

Back in 1976, Dana time travels again, but this time Kevin comes along by holding onto her. They land in 1819 where a 12-year-old Rufus has just fallen out of a tree and broken his leg. The young, enslaved person with him, Nigel, sends for Rufus’s father while Kevin and Dana try explaining their arrival to Rufus. Rufus eventually believes their time travel story after they show him a coin from 1976.

Tom Weylin arrives with Nigel’s enslaved father, Luke, and is callously uncaring toward Rufus. They all head back to the plantation where Kevin claims to be Dana’s owner traveling through the South. After learning Dana can read, Tom Weylin lets them stay to both help Rufus practice reading while he recovers. We meet more enslaved people including Sarah, the plantation cook, and Carrie, her daughter who has a speech disorder and uses other means to communicate.