novel follows Tom, sold and carried south by the trader Haley, whose pitiless calculations contrast with Tom’s steadfast Christian hope. A court-house auction in Washington tears an elderly mother, Hagar, from her son; on a riverboat, passengers argue over slavery while Haley secretly sells a young mother’s baby in Louisville, driving her to throw herself into the river. The scene shifts to a peaceful Quaker household where Rachel Halliday shelters Eliza and her son, reunites her with George Harris, and quietly organizes their night journey toward safety. At the start of the next movement, the narrative returns to the Mississippi: Tom, granted some trust, labors kindly among the crew and reads his Bible while the boat passes plantation after plantation, and we meet the New Orleans gentleman St. Clare and his ethereal little daughter, Eva. (This is an automatically generated summary.)