In the pilot, we meet the Browne family, led by Dr. Browne (“Doc”), a wealthy Doctor and slaveholder, his Greek immigrant wife, and his three children. His children represent his greatest attributes as a man and deity. His oldest son, Ezekiel, is a straight laced soon to be medical student that wants to fulfill the destiny of his medical doctor
lineage. His son Jacob, is the free-spirit idealist, who wants to farm the land and free the slaves, and his daughter Minerva is the pure hearted healer that he has spent his life trying to be.

Doc has a heart condition that has to be managed. Doc knows that he does not have a lot of time to live, so he manages his condition and journals his daily experience. His journals become our portal into Doc’s soul. For this reason, Doc does not allow anyone to read it, and keeps it in a desk under lock and key. From the beginning of the story, we know that Doc has lost his brother. We also know that there is incredible tension between Doc and his wife, Daisy. This tension becomes more evident as the season progresses. Daisy is very suspicious of the relationship between Doc and Washington, the very likeable slave boy who bears a resemblance to her children. We later find that Daisy played a part in the death of Doc’s brother.

The first season details Doc’s quest to leave Washington money and land in Doc’s will. He enlists Turner, his down on his luck attorney friend with political ties. Finally, Turner can suggest leaving a chest of money that Washington can turn in to the clerk of the court. But Washington would have to be a free man to take advantage of this loophole in the law. Turner drafts provisions in the will to be signed by Doc the next day.

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In the midst of the Browne saga, the family hires a creole cook, Lucinda, who not only has incredible acumen for cooking, but also the special gift of foresight. Daisy instantly takes a liking to Lucinda, and they become the best of friends, to the disdain of Daisy’s grandmother, Yaya. Lucinda fits into the Browne plantation with fellow slave and
master alike. Jim and Washington become her closest allies. Jim falls in love with Lucinda, who loves him back, just not the way you think.

Dr. Browne dies after a tragic run-in with an enemy, who returns for revenge. Doc’s death turns the family upside down. Daisy, now in charge of the farm goes off of the deep end. This allows Yaya to control the day to day running. Yaya buys more slaves, and plants more crops and rules with an iron hand. Daisy in inconsolable, she goes to Turner
and learns of Doc’s plan to free Washington and give him land. This further enrages Daisy, who tears up the codicil to the will and vows to sell Washington. In present day, Denise Wheeler, a white woman in Michigan seeks out her heritage when she is left money from an unknown person. Her research leads her to find out the secrets that her family kept from her for almost 100 years.

Back in the 1800’s, Lucinda has a beautiful baby boy. She names him Byron. He has blue eyes and curly light brown hair, and dimples. No one knows who Byron’s father is, but it does not seem to matter to anyone, who loves the little boy. Most struck by Byron is Daisy. She forms a special bond with the boy, against the wishes of Yaya. She treats
him like a grandson, teaches him etiquette, and makes him feel special.

 

Jacob takes on more initiative at the house. He does not like that more slaves have been purchased, and that his great-grandmother seems to be in control. Jacob is especially distraught when Washington is sold away from the plantation. Ezekiel is accepted at Harvard and leaves for Boston, possibly never to return. When going through
his father’s study Jacob comes across the key to the drawer. When he finds his father’s journal, he realizes that his father had a lot in store for the family that was never realized.

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He also realized that Washington was his uncle’s son, his cousin! Jacob is incensed. He visits Turner and is told of his father’s plan to free Washington and make provisions for him. Upon return home, Jacob learns that Washington has been found hung by the neck. He encounters Yaya and his Daisy in the parlor being served tea by Lucinda. He
yells and screams at them. Yaya has a stroke, Daisy uncontrollable sobs, and Lucinda throws up. Jacob vows to take control of the plantation and to make his mother pay.

Back in present times, Cheryl Higgins likewise looks into her ancestry when her dna test reveals Greek and Irish bloodlines. Her research uncovers even more than she would have ever imagined.

As the Civil War approaches, Jacob has to make a decision, protect his plantation, or abandon his land. He chooses, against his soul to fight for the confederacy. Before headed off to war, Jacob announces to his mother and incapacitated great-grandmother that Byron is his son, and that Lucinda is pregnant with their second child.

 

At the end of the War, Jacob reaches back out to Turner. Despite slavery being over, the same laws were in effect. Turner devises the same scheme that he planned for Doc, leave Byron the money in a chest in the woods for him to find. Jacob discusses the premise with Lucinda, who now has 4 children with Jacob, and places a piece of the purple
cloth inside the trunk. After taking the trunk to the clerk, and no one being able to identify the property as theirs, Byron is granted the money that was meant for his Great Uncle. He purchases land from an adjoining landholder, and from his father, Jacob.

Jim, Jacob, and others help Byron build a house on the land, big enough for his mother, and his siblings. Four years pass, and Byron is now a man. He, his siblings, and Jim tend to the land, but do not have the manpower and access to materials and buyers to make a difference. The Weaver family, who previously worked for the Browne family asks
if they can sharecrop on the Brown land. Byron accepts to get the extra hands. After a chance encounter with William Sutherland, a black businessman, whose family had been free the last 50 years, the Browne’s finally get help with more workers and seed.

Byron comes to grips with the fact that his father will never be able to be his Dad. This prompts Byron to change the last name of the family to Brown and to forge forward on his own. Athena Fain falls deeply in love with Jonathan Sutherland and marries him. The Brown family tobacco business becomes a booming enterprise. The Browns start
turning a profit and look to grow. The Browns and Sutherlands flaunt their wealth, resulting in the backlash of white neighbors, and ultimately the lynching of Jonathan Sutherland. The families are devastated.

Byron consults with Jacob, who sends Byron to Turner, who brokers tobacco sales with a North Carolina tobacco giant and offers protection in exchange for financial assistance. The arrangement works for both parties and success ensues. The Browns make money and enemies at a similar clip. The fair skinned Browns are not white, so they are outcast by their white neighbors, they are also not fully black, so they are reviled as “half niggers” by the black community.

Felix, the darkest, and loudest of the Brown men makes a name for himself with his expensive suits, and womanizing of women across all color spectrums. He is the king of the underworld gambling and drinking scene, but also has a target on his back. When accused by a white man of raping his wife, Felix stabs the man, resulting in vigilante
justice and the hanging of Felix.

After Felix’s death Byron and Athena go opposite ways. Byron’s hatred leads him to further trust no one outside of the family, or at least those not similarly situated, and he only deals with outsiders when absolutely necessary. Athena runs away with Weaver’s son and chooses to live as a white woman in the North. Peter and Angelique forge forward and honor the family by starting businesses and keeping a watchful eye out. They correspond with their sister through an intermediary, as to not expose her identity. Byron never speaks to Athena again.

The series ends with Cheryl Higgins and Denise Wheeler meeting at the restored Browne house and reading Dr. Browne’s diary with their cousin Cedric who has lived in the same small, country town his entire life. The three match stories and put all of the pieces together.