Shadrach Cobb is born a slave on a Mississippi cotton plantation, fathered by his master, Morris Pendrickton, and hated by Barlow Pendrickton, Morris' son and legal heir. Barlow's hatred is intensified because Shadrach has inherited a skill in the shoe-making craft which had passsed down through the Pendrickton family for generations, which endears him to Morris. A perceived threat against his life by Barlow prompts Shadrach and his wife, Kancy, to escape via the Underground Railroad and eventually settle in Canada, where Shadrach earns a college degree and develops a successful shoe business. Driven by a calling and a God-given revelation on the origin of man, he also becomes a noted Bible scholar and evangelist. As his business grows, so does his love of money. Eventually, he loses sight on God's calling and focuses more on his new found love; wealth building. A Detroit entrepreneur convinces him that his thriving business would grow even faster if he would purchase his freedom from Morris and relocate in Michigan, where his real market is. Shadrach enlists and emissary to handle the freedom-purchase transaction, unaware that Morris had died by then. Barlow capitalizes on an opportuntiy and dupes Shadrach's emissary with fake freedom documents. Upon returning to America, Shadrach and Kancy are captured as fugitives and sentenced to re-enslavement in Mississippi. The ensuing course of events intrigues even the writer.