When Howard Savage died, Savage Plantation, the largest and most profitable of all cotton plantations in 1850 mid-western Mississippi, passed to his son. George Savage in a drunken rage and eager to establish control over all he desired, raped and impregnated a household slave, fourteen-year-old Dora Mathis. Forced to run away, Dora escaped through the underground railroad, giving birth to her baby in a free state. Within weeks, another son, one of privilege and wealth is born to George and Clara Savage. Savage Kin, A Southern Family Tree: The First Generation is the story of these two sons, the experiences they had during and after the civil war, and the interaction between families when Dora and her family returned to Mississippi.