Twelve-year-old Cassie, a mixed-race child and a slave, is caught between the color lines in eighteenth-century Revolutionary War Virginia. She escapes slavery finding refuge with the British Army only to be cast out of Yorktown between the battle lines during the last great battle for American Independence. Surviving the horrors of the battlefield, Cassie passes as white and joins a group of traveling puppeteers on their way to New York City where she hopes to find her father. Her temporary safety with the puppeteers comes to an end when Cassie is recognized. She flees the puppeteers in the middle of a snowstorm, becomes ill, and it seems that her precious freedom is lost. With her future in the balance, she must decide whether or not to reveal her true identity.