The Underground Railroad

Without Miss Holly's guidance, Henry and Caroline wander north for days. Snow piles around them, and Caroline grows too weak to walk. Henry carries her to a house beside a church, where Reverend Andrew Jamison takes them in. A doctor diagnoses Caroline with dangerous pneumonia and goes to seek an herbal treatment, but her fever keeps rising.

Henry stays beside his wife and describes the home he will build in Canada, with a garden, flowers, and room for William. Caroline knows she is dying. She tells Henry that she is going home to Jesus and asks him to continue, find their son, and remember her love every morning. She dies that night. Andrew and Henry bury her in the dress Henry bought at Cabin Creek, then Henry leaves alone for Canada.

Nathan soon reaches the rectory and discovers Caroline's grave. Andrew refuses to treat human beings as property and admits nothing about Henry's route. Nathan correctly guesses that Henry has already left and rides after him. He catches Henry and chains him for the journey back to Tennessee.

William reaches the same rectory only hours later, entering through a tunnel that connects the woods to the basement. Andrew recognizes his name and tells him that Henry has just left. Then he gives William the devastating news of Caroline's death. William grieves, rests, and prepares to follow his father after dark.

The sheriff arrives with Nathan and the captive Henry. Andrew refuses to answer whether he has hidden fugitives, and the sheriff arrests both Andrew and Henry while Nathan searches the house. At the jail, Andrew reveals that William is concealed in the tunnel. Henry rejoices that his son is alive, but fears Nathan will find him. Andrew pleads with the sheriff to value a human life above his job and obey what is right rather than a wicked law.

At the rectory, Nathan notices two hot bowls of soup. Unable to find the hidden guest, he lights a fire and closes the flue to smoke him out. The flames spread beyond his control, setting the rug and then the building ablaze. William hides his leather map behind a tunnel beam so the Underground Railroad will not be exposed if he is captured. When smoke pours into the passage, he collapses.

The sheriff releases Andrew and Henry in the emergency. They race through the church and enter the tunnel from the opposite side, finding William unconscious and carrying him out just before the fire reaches them. William awakens in his father's arms. Nathan is jailed for destroying the property, while the sheriff frees Andrew and ignores Nathan's threats.

Before leaving, Henry and William visit Caroline's grave. William promises to work hard, control his temper, and make her proud. Father and son then travel to Canada, where they remain free for the rest of their lives. Henry never builds the house or garden he imagined, and work remains difficult, but he has his son.

Back beneath Whit's End, Jack notices that the tunnel Carl is searching could not have connected the rectory to the old church. The two discover beams leading toward a second, buried passage. Behind one beam, Carl finds William's leather map, exactly where the old account says he hid it. The discovery proves that the events occurred on that ground and that Whit's End had been Andrew's rectory.

Carl then reveals why the proof means so much to him. His full name is Carl Ross, and William was his great-great-grandfather. The family's stories have crossed generations; now he holds the map William carried toward freedom.