The story opens with the agitation just preceding the secession of the South. John Rivers, a Union sentimentalist, is forbidden by Colonel White, a staunch Southerner, to call upon his daughter, Grace. At the slave market the following day, Old Sam and Mammy, man and wife, are bought by Rivers and Grace, respectively. War is declared and Rivers is appointed to a captaincy in the Union Army. Sam goes to the front with Rivers, and there are some amusing scenes when he is ordered by Rivers to buy some chickens, but gets away with them “in the natural way.” General Butler, under whom Rivers is fighting, receives word from McClellan that Colonel White’s army is concentrating at Bethel, Va. The opposing armies meet, and the Unions are victorious. Colonel White is badly wounded and Rivers sends for Grace before her father passes away. After the death of her father, Grace leaves for home. When the war is over, Rivers returns to his Southern home and Old Sam and Mammy plan to bring Grace and her erstwhile sweetheart together again. Rivers learns that Grace is having trouble with her creditors and in order to appease their wrath, her property is to be sold. He instructs his lawyer to purchase the property. The old Negro parson, who has been taken into the conspiracy by Sam and Mammy, writes this letter to both Rivers and Grace, the one supposed to be written and signed by Rivers, the other by Grace. “My foolish pride has caused us a world of suffering. I have been all to blame. Will be at the old elm at noon. Please meet me and let us talk it over.” Each receives the letter, they keep the appointment and in a moment they are in each other’s arms. The auction sale takes place and Rivers finds the note purporting to have come from him in a sugar bowl, where Grace has hidden it. He is puzzled for a moment, and then understands how “the black conspiracy” worked out.