As a “free colored” woman, Anna Elizabeth Heegaard is wealthy and owns her own slaves when she begins a love affair with the Danish colony’s governor-general Peter von Scholten. During communal feasts, they discuss social reforms while a slave boy hangs above the table and cools the diners with a feather. And in the shadows, whispers begin of a slave revolt.

The drama chronicles the affair between Inger, a young Danish woman from Copenhagen, and Kwame, an illegal immigrant from Ghana, that she meets while volunteering at a homeless shelter. Despite their cultural differences, and the disapproval of Inger’s own mother, the two quickly develop a strong bond and move in together. Everything seems perfect and serendipitous, but then Inger discovers a devastating secret that Kwame has kept hidden.