After being kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup uses his skills and carefully placed trust to survive and seek a way back to his family.
- Scenes 1–29
Solomon lives freely in Saratoga as a husband, father, worker, and musician.
- Scenes 30–65
Kidnapped and held under the imposed name Platt, Solomon must preserve his life and identity.
- Scenes 66–123
He enters plantation life under Ford, passes through Tibeats’s violence and the near-lynching, and is transferred to Epps.
- Scene 124
Solomon is transferred to Epps’s plantation and placed among Patsey and the enslaved workers, opening the harsher final plantation phase.
- Just before
- Scene 163
While eating after work, Solomon notices the juice from berries on his plate.
- Scene 164
Solomon catches a duck by the riverbank and removes one of its feathers.
- Scene 165
Solomon tries to use crushed berries as ink with the feather and stolen paper, but the liquid runs too freely.
- Scene 166
This scene
