It explores the history of an African-American family in the American South, from the time before the American civil war and slavery, through the Civil Rights Movement, to the present. It focuses on a fictional African-American family in Georgia, beginning before the state was Georgia specifically, we travel to Chicasetta, a rural town that once upon a time was a plantation and before that a Creek village.                                                                      Ailey Pearl Garfield is at the center of this sweeping saga. We meet her as a three year old, the youngest daughter of Mrs. Maybelle lee Garfield and Dr. Geoffrey Louis Garfield. Ailey's sisters are Lydia the eldest and Carol Rose the middle sister. The Garfield live in "the city" that's up north .