The Octoroon begins at Terrebonne, a plantation in Louisiana. Pete, an older slave who is “lame” (22), enters and chases the slave children about. Next to enter is George, the nephew of the plantation’s owner, Mrs. Peyton, who has just returned from Europe. The slaves tell George that the children were all born on the plantation.

Mrs. Peyton enters, and George tells her about his European travels, in which he “left [his] loves and [his] creditors equally inconsolable” (24). Mrs. Peyton tells George he reminds her of her late husband, a judge. Scudder, a man who oversees part of the plantation, enters and says he has just seen Zoe, a woman who lives at the house and “leaves a streak of love behind her” (24). Mrs. Peyton tells George that the judge has left the plantation estate to George, although Scudder admits that the property is “in a darned bad condition” (25). Scudder says that the judge signed a “big mortgage” to Jacob M’Closky, who now owns “the richest half of Terrebonne” (25). Scudder owns the other half—which he has let fall into disrepair, as inventions he introduced failed “until he finished off with folly what Mr.