Synopsis

In the early 19th-century mountains of North Carolina, widower August King returns home after a supply trip and encounters Annalees, a runaway slave. Though he initially tries to avoid involvement, August gradually risks his safety, property, and standing in the community to help her reach freedom. Their tense journey forces him to confront grief, conscience, and the moral cost of obedience.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film adapts John Ehle's 1971 novel, and Ehle also wrote the screenplay, making the movie a rare case in which the original novelist directly shaped the screen version.

• Its world premiere was the closing film of the 52nd Venice International Film Festival on September 9, 1995. It was later shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival.

• The production was filmed in North Carolina, matching the story's mountain setting and allowing the forests and rural roads to function as an important part of the film's atmosphere.

• Maya Angelou provides the narration. Her voice gives the period story the quality of a remembered folk tale rather than a conventional historical adventure.

• Polish cinematographer Slawomir Idziak photographed the film, while production designer Patricia Norris helped establish its early-19th-century rural world.

• A small piece of animal-production trivia survives in the American Humane Association's records: the sound of a whining pig was added during post-production rather than recorded live on set.

• The film opened in U.S. theaters on November 10, 1995, and earned $14,381 in reported domestic and worldwide theatrical gross.