The year is 1862, and the Civil War is in full flame.
Cassius Howard, a slave and carpenter on a tobacco
plantation, risks everything – extreme punishment, sale to
a cotton plantation, even his life – to learn the truth
concerning the murder of a freed black woman, a woman who
secretly taught him to read and once saved his life. No one
gives a damn about her small, rude, unimportant death in
the midst of a brutal and hellish war. No one but Cassius,
who braves unimaginable dangers to escape the plantation
and avenge her death.
SWEETSMOKE is Cassius's journey into knowledge, knowledge
that tests him and very nearly destroys him, ultimately
guiding him toward freedom.