On Valmorain’s arrival from France, he finds he is responsible for the sugar cane plantation on the island of Saint-Domingue at his father’s death.He purchases nine-year-old Tété who soon learns to manage his house. In her teenage years, he rapes her and uses her as his concubine. When he removes their first-born child, Tété’s life couldn’t be worse. With a slave rebellion in site, Tété’s moves Valmorain’s son from his first wife to New Orleans.

This historical fiction set in Haiti during the slave trading era held a mixture of points of view: from plantation owners to the slaves who practised voodoo and tried to maintain their African roots.