The film describes the extraordinary anti-slavery efforts taking place in the mid-19th century in Lowell. Forrant and Grooms visit the sites that still exist in downtown Lowell where abolitionist activity occurred and where freedom seekers operated businesses.

Lowell’s cotton mills were heavily dependent on Southern cotton, which was produced by enslaved people, however many of Lowell’s mill workers, religious leaders, and even a Boott Mill overseer were staunch abolitionists.