Clare Warren, an African American scholar, is fourteen months into her tenure as the president of Greenbrook, a prestigious women’s college in Boston. At the time of her hire, Clare had tasked a faculty committee to investigate Greenbrook’s possible ties to the pre-Civil War slave trade.
The committee’s final report concludes that John Barton – a wealthy nineteenth-century ivory merchant (and important early donor to Greenbrook) – had employed slave labor while conducting business in Africa. Their recommendation is that Greenbrook disavow its previous connection with the Barton family, including removing the Barton name from a centuries-old building on the Greenbrook campus.
Clare sets up a meeting with Royce Barton, a linear descendant of John Barton, to inform him of the committee’s conclusions and the actions that she intends to take in response. Royce questions the accuracy of the committee’s findings, and accuses Clare and Greenbrook of defaming not only his distant ancestor – an ardent abolitionist and apparent supporter of the Underground Railroad – but every current and future member of the Barton family, including Royce himself. Legal action is threatened, and Clare is suddenly confronted with the complexities of America’s messy racial present as well as America’s troubled racial past.