Atticus, a military veteran, is heading home to Chicago to find his father, Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams), after receiving a distressing letter. Monstrose is long gone when he arrives, though. George Freeman (Courtney B. Vance) leaves wife Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis) and daughter behind to join nephew Atticus in the search. Childhood friend Letitia “Leti” Lewis (Jurnee Smollet) also tags along on their road trip, intending to depart for her destination somewhere along the way. Driving from Chicago to Massachusetts proves perilous thanks to hostile police and citizens eager to abide by the Jim Crow laws that would allow them to do the group harm. That’s before they encounter Christina Braithwhite (Abbey Lee) and Samuel Braithwhite (Tony Goldwyn), a daughter-father team full of otherworldly secrets and dangerous magic.