In 1850, opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law grows in Philadelphia. Phyllis Lewis uses her job as a boarding house cook to expose the bounty hunters who seize runaway slaves. When the leader of her resistance cell is falsely accused of being a runaway and kidnapped by federal marshals, she resolves to rescue her friend. With the help of a harlot, a burglar, a traveling salesman, a lawyer, and a network of supporters, they confront the slaveocracy and the power and authority of the U.S. Government.
