Roxana has know and loved Joss for as long as she can remember, ever since Joss came to Grey's Landing ten years earlier, in 1826, to be Roxana's nursery maid. Even before the deaths of her mother and brother in a tragic riverboat accident, Roxana had thought of Joss as family.

When her father, a prominent judge, is called to Washington, Roxana must stay behind with Joss and the other free blacks on the plantation to run things and, to her surprise, "light the lanterns"-to act as a stationmaster, if necessary, on the Underground Railway. But even more unsettling to Roxana is the thought that Papa will be traveling on the river.

After reports of brutal slave catchers in the area make it clear that Joss and her fianc must seek refuge farther north, it's up to Roxana to escort them, posing as an arrogant young slave owner. Her former teacher, Miss Hattie Beecher of Cincinnati, hates slavery, but will Roxana be able to overcome her crippling fear of the river long enough to get them to Miss Hattie? And will others on board the riverboat-particularly the gracious young Southern gentleman who takes a fancy to Roxana-see through her performance? Or is he, too, masquerading-and more dangerous than he seems?

Norma Johnston transports readers to the banks and roiling waters of the Ohio River in the difficult days before slavery was abolished, in a gripping historical novel that is also a poignant coming-of-age story.