Freewater

Ferdinand runs into the other children, and Sanzi says she’ll get him a new knife from Southerland. He says he’ll join and get his own knife.

The children decide on a warning sound to signal trouble.

Nora wakes up before her family, sneaks into her parents’ bedroom, uses her mother’s key to unlock her secret cupboard, and takes some paper and ink. She goes back to her bedroom and practices imitating her mother’s handwriting, then makes a pass for Rose. She also packs bags with food, clothes, and supplies. Nora shows Rose the bags and pass, but she can’t read the note. Nora says “You, me, free” (313) and reads the note aloud: It grants Rose freedom by Mrs. Crumb. Nora thinks she and Rose can run away and both benefit. Rose says she’s not running anywhere without her children, and tells Nora to leave. Anna sees Rose hide the bags and pass behind hay.

Upon stepping outside Freewater, Sanzi is struck because it’s not visibly different from her home. Ferdinand creates a pointed branch to use as a potential weapon. Homer says they need to travel east but can’t tell directions because the sun is obscured; Sanzi takes the lead. When they reach Freewater’s spike traps, Homer leads them in a zigzag pattern. Billy then takes the lead.

The children reach the river and pile into Sanzi’s boat. With practice, they find balance and begin rowing. They reach the secret door, and Billy dives to open it. The children reach Suleman’s tree shelter, and catch squirrels for dinner. Around a campfire, they review Homer’s plan: After retrieving Mama and Anna, and checking for Turner, he’ll return and some of the children will help him find tools. Sanzi and Ferdinand volunteer. Billy asks what Homer will say to his mother, and Homer says “sorry.” Sanzi calls Homer a hero, but he confesses to his guilt. Ada says their mother’s capture was not his fault, but Stokes’s. Sanzi confesses to starting the fire in the corn patch and wants to make up for it with tools.

The morning of Viola’s wedding, Mrs. Crumb dresses Nora and puts white powder on her face to cover her birthmark. She orders Nora to not mess up her appearance before the wedding that night. Nora distracts her mother by pointing out her lack of a hair ribbon; Mrs. Crumb goes to find a ribbon and Nora heads to the larder, where she thinks her packed bags are. She sees Anna messing with the bags and hopes she’ll at least escape. She washes off her powder.

In the morning, the children wake and examine Turner’s map. Ferdinand thinks he knows what the back of it says, though he can’t read it. Suddenly, they hear dogs barking and a voice asking what they’re doing. The voice belongs to a white man, and everyone’s scared. Ferdinand jumps into character and orders the other children to shut up. He gives the man the map, the back facing up, and says his “master” wrote it for him. The man asks where his shoes are, and Ferdinand says he lost them. The man doesn’t want to interfere with Crumb, so he leaves the children alone but threatens them. The children proceed to Southerland. Homer gets out of Sanzi’s boat and tells everyone else to stay put until he returns with Mama and Anna.

Rose has finished cooking, and various enslaved people come in and out of the kitchen to bring platters to the wedding tent. Rose tells Anna that if she finds a way to escape, she’ll go to the swamp first to check for her children. Anna says if she escapes, she’ll head North to search for her mother. She then walks around the party to fill people’s whiskey glasses.

Returning to Southerland, everything looks different, as if there’s no joy. Homer goes into a cabin and finds his wedding clothes, including a hat, in Mrs. Petunia’s chest. He dresses and heads toward the kitchen, but is interrupted by Turner. Turner says he wanted to get his son, Desmond, back, which Crumb promised if he helped find formerly enslaved people in the swamp. He is supposed to guide the militia men to Freewater after Viola’s wedding. Homer says he should run away instead, as he probably won’t get Desmond back. Turner tells him to go away, and he does.

Homer goes to the kitchen, but Mama isn’t there. A white man appears and demands that Homer bring cookies to his children. Homer walks through the crowded tent with a cookie tray, and Anna sees him but doesn’t react. Crumb makes a speech about “gifting” Rose to Viola as a wedding present.

Sanzi wants to go after Homer. The children who’ve been enslaved before are worried about her getting caught, but she doesn’t seem worried. Ferdinand thinks she needs to at least be accompanied by someone who’s familiar with plantations, so she and him walk to Southerland together; Sanzi is struck by how open the land is, with few places to hide. She wonders why the houses are so big, and if white people are giants. Homer previously said tools were kept in a white shed, but there are five white sheds. Sanzi and Ferdinand open one door and quickly shut it because they hear movement inside.

The first white shed is filled with chickens. Sanzi and Ferdinand move on to the second shed, which is for laundry. In the third shed, they find tools as well as blankets and pillows, as if someone sleeps in there. Ferdinand wants to leave, but Sanzi is awestruck because she’s never seen so many tools. A man enters and the children hide, but the man finds Ferdinand and throws him to the ground.

Homer is horrified that his mother is being “gifted.” Mama spots him, and her eyes widen. The white man who demanded cookies continues to lead Homer to his table. They arrive and the man’s children grab the cookies, spilling them and yelling. The man yells to the Crumbs that Homer is clumsy. Anna says he is new, and that she’ll clean his mess. Mama faints, and Viola voices concern at her gifts being broken in the process; Nora and Old Joe tend to Rose. Homer walks away, but Stokes stops him because he wants a cookie, and eventually recognizes him.

Ada, Juna, and Billy worry because the others have been gone for a long time. Billy leaves to check if they need help, leaving Juna to watch Ada.

In the third shed, the man wants to know which plantation Ferdinand is from, and threatens to sell him to Crumb. Ferdinand doesn’t answer, and the man hits him. Sanzi cuts the man’s arm with a knife. He’s stunned, and then falls down in pain. Sanzi and Ferdinand run outside, where they see more men. They run, and someone shoots at them. A man grabs Sanzi, and Billy appears and slings a stone at him, making him drop his gun. Ferdinand grabs the gun, and the freed Sanzi slings stones at another man. Juna and Ada appear, and the children tie up the unconscious men. Suleman arrives.

Stokes grabs Homer, planning to take him to Crumb. Homer yells and struggles, but Stokes knocks him out.

Suleman shoots an arrow at the wedding tent and instructs Sanzi to do the same. He then rushes off to attend to his own “business.”

The wedding tent catches fire.

Outside the tent, Homer comes to and struggles to get away from Stokes. Suddenly, people yell “fire” and scramble out of the tent. People stampede over Homer and Stokes, and Homer gets away. Stokes tells the Crumbs of Homer, but they don’t care because of the fire. Homer hears Mama scream from inside the tent. He runs to her, pushes a table out of the way, and guides her out of the tent. Suleman arrives and tells Homer where his friends are.

While Anna’s maypop water plan didn’t work, she did wish for fire to rain on Mrs. Crumb. She locates Nora’s bags and pass. She encounters Stokes, who grabs her, but Nora finally speaks, demanding he release Anna. Stokes tells her off, and Nora attacks him; the girls knock him unconscious. Anna announces she’s leaving, and Nora says she’ll hold Stokes back.

Homer spots Anna with her two bags and pass, and they wave goodbye. He and Mama find Ada and their friends. While the wedding guests are distracted by the fire, they go into a shed and take supplies. They return to their boat and see Suleman with his own supplies. He’s also leading a group who escaped Southerland and McGrath plantations. Among these people are Turner, his wife Sally, and his daughter Minnie.

Nora suggests that Old Joe also leave, but he says he’s too old. However, he feels better knowing others escaped. The initial effect of Anna’s maypop water has worn off, and the wedding guests choose to sleep instead of chasing the enslaved people who escaped.

Suleman is happy to see the children and their work, hopeful for the future.

The children reach the sky bridge, and Billy finally gives Juna his bracelet. She kisses his cheek.

Suleman gives Sanzi a new bow and tells her that she is brave before leaving. She is overjoyed to reunite with her parents, proud to have made it home.

Returning to Freewater, this time with Mama, Homer finally feels at home.