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 188
Solomon re-hides the letter, takes his saved money, and cautiously leaves the cabin.
- Scene 189
Solomon crosses the dark plantation to the lantern-lit cabin where Armsby invites him inside.
- Scene 190
Solomon offers Armsby all his savings to secretly post a letter to New York; Armsby agrees and sets a two-day meeting to receive it.
- Scene 191
This scene
