Orphaned and enslaved on a sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Martinique, Abeje and her brother Adunbi survive by the kindness of fellow bondsmen and through their uncommon abilities—Adunbi with animals, and Abeje with healing plants.

Years later, when Adunbi’s daughter Hetty is taken away to Canada, she gains her freedom and marries Dax Rougeaux, an ambitious mulâtre saddler, beginning the powerful Rougeaux family line. Among Hetty’s children, grandchildren, and beyond, different family members take the spotlight and each must grapple with their own struggles—Guillaume Rougeaux’s forbidden love, Eleanor’s illegitimate child and her impossible dream in music, Rosalie’s role in saving her brother from being drafted into the service to fight in Vietnam.

Spanning seven generations and traveling from Martinique to Montreal, New York, and Philadelphia, weaving magic and mystery with the hard truths of their times, the Rougeaux family comes alive on every page.