Kasi Lemmons directs this biographical drama based on real events in which an enslaved woman successfully escapes her owners and heads for the freedom of Pennsylvania. After crossing into Pennsylvania, which had outlawed slavery, Harriet (Cynthia Erivo) begins to explore what it means to be free. However, she cannot reckon with knowing that her relatives remain enslaved in Maryland, and so returns to help them and dozens of others escape, while evading the omnipresent threat of being caught by the authorities.