Well-mannered Samuel and his mischievous younger brother, Joshua, are free black boys living in an orphanage during the end of the Civil War. Samuel takes the blame for Joshua's latest prank, and the consequence is worse than he could ever imagine. He's taken from the orphanage to the South, given a new name --- Friday --- and sold into slavery. What follows is a heartbreaking but hopeful account of Samuel's journey from freedom, to captivity and back again.