It's 1858, and fourteen-year-old Lucy Bradford lives in Boston and is nothing like her older sisters. Instead of making a fuss along with everyone else over big sister Iris's wedding, she'd rather be with her grandfather aboard his sailboat or helping him with his abolitionist efforts. Hundreds of miles south, a girl named Afrika is fleeing from a cruel world, with the North Star as her guide. Afrika has known lifetimes of hardship and brutality, though she's only Lucy's age. And she's willing to face death for a chance at freedom. A movement underground will soon change both Lucy and Afrika's lives. It is a movement to help Afrika, and others, escape north to a world without slavery, a movement that will call Lucy into its ranks. It is called the Underground Railroad, and on it, Afrika and Lucy will discover together where their destinies lie: true north.