SYNOPSIS

Set in the 1850s in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, Harvest of the Bitter Sun tells the story of Jeremiah Pressley, a young boy born into slavery on the vast Wellston Plantation. Inspired by real slave narratives gathered from the region, the narrative follows Jeremiah’s daily struggle against backbreaking field labor and the constant threat of violence from overseers. Despite the oppressive reality of forced work, meager rations, and the fear of family separation, Jeremiah clings to the faint hope that freedom will one day arrive.

Jeremiah’s closest confidants are his mother, Ruth, whose quiet strength and faith help him endure, and his aunt, Esther, a woman hardened by the heartbreak of losing loved ones to the slave trade. In secret night gatherings with other enslaved teenagers, Jeremiah dreams of escaping beyond the Edisto River, far from the watchful eyes of the overseer and his hunting dogs. Together, they share whispered rumors of a growing war that might lead to emancipation—a rumor that sparks both daring attempts to flee and brutal reprisals when those attempts fail.

As the Civil War looms, the faint glimmer of hope grows. Troops eventually push into South Carolina, and word spreads that many enslavers have fled. Jeremiah and his family must grapple with the sudden collapse of the old order—lives shaped by trauma and fear now poised at the edge of a terrifying, exhilarating unknown. Based on true accounts of how emancipation reached rural plantations, Harvest of the Bitter Sun offers a gripping look at one boy’s determination to hold onto his identity, honor those he loves, and step into a new life free from bondage.