"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The Boy is a typical thirteen-year-old, except that it's 1855 Louisiana and he's a slave.When his owner dies, he must flee or be blamed for the death. After a dangerous journey he finds refuge with a group of "free" black men that call themselves the Gator Boys. They teach him the violence they use to navigate this new world and he does his best to fit in. But the Boy starts to doubt his so-called freedom when he's forced to spill blood for sport. As he questions the brutality, he realizes that the fear he uses to control others is also controlling him. He's torn between his newfound feelings of belonging and a haunting desire to escape. Will he kill to belong, or die trying to be free?