An innocent child. A nation defined by slavery. A trial that could end a young man's life.

Cass County, Illinois, 1858. Nine-year-old Scrump Armstrong's days are centered around his tight-knit family. But after stumbling across a Black man lynched on their property, the youngster's world changes forever. As his parents join the Underground Railroad, he fears suspicious neighbors could uncover their dangerous secret and threaten the family's livelihood.

Idolizing his older brother, Scrump is terrified when the nineteen-year-old is suddenly accused of killing a neighbor... a conviction that surely ends in hanging. His only hope for acquittal rests in the letter his ailing father sends off to an old friend.

And so, Duff's trial begins with Abraham Lincoln for the defense.