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 186
Epps announces the cotton weights and questions the low total; Solomon explains that he and the others buried Abram.
- Scene 187
Solomon, Bob, and Wiley are whipped for their low totals; Epps insults Solomon, orders him to clean up, and commands a dance that night.
- Scene 188
Solomon re-hides the letter, takes his saved money, and cautiously leaves the cabin.
- Scene 189
This scene
