A true story of two men separated by 100 years who are united in their search for freedom. In 1856, a slave named Samuel Woodward (Gooding Jr.) and his family escape from the Monroe Plantation near Richmond, Virginia. A secret network of ordinary people known as the Underground Railroad guide the family on their journey north to Canada. They are relentlessly pursued by the notorious slave hunter Plimpton (Sadler). Hunted like a dog and haunted by the unthinkable suffering he and his people have endured, Samuel is forced to decide between revenge or freedom.