Uncle Tom's Cabin opens as Mr. Shelby and a slave trader, Mr. Haley, discuss how many slaves Mr. Shelby will have to sell to settle his debt. Despite his reluctance, Mr. Shelby decides to sell Tom, a loyal and honest man, and Harry, the son of his wife's favorite slave, Eliza.
Eliza learns that her son has been sold and makes the split-second decision to take him and flee to Canada that same evening. Earlier today, her husband, George Harris, had let her know that he was planning to leave his own master, and she hopes they can both escape and find each other in Canada.
As Eliza takes off, slave trader Mr. Hadley follows her and almost catches up with her. She escapes in Ohio by crossing a river on a piece of floating ice. Mr. Haley sends slave hunters after her, and returns to search for his remaining property, Tom. Tom chooses not to show up because he knows his master (at this point, Mr. Shelby) is counting on his honesty.
Tom and Mr. Haley leave for the South. On the way, Tom saves a little girl from drowning. The girl's father decides to buy Tom to be his daughter's personal servant. Tom was lucky (as far as being sold can be called lucky) because the girl's father, Augustine St. Clare, treats his slaves relatively well. The little girl, Eva, is also a gentle child, devoted to her servants and to her family. Sadly, the mother, Marie St. Clare, is a more typical slave owner and rules her ragged slaves as they try to meet her endless demands.
Tom loves little Eva. They discuss their mutual Christian faith daily. Eva even transforms the life of a hardened young slave named Topsy and begins teaching another slave, Mammy, to read.
When it is clear that Eva is sick and is going to die, she calls all of the slaves together to give them a talk about God's love (and his love) for them. She gives each slave one of her blonde curls for them to remember. Then she died of drug use (now known as tuberculosis).
Meanwhile, Eliza and her husband George are reunited at a Quaker camp. From there, they fled to Canada successfully, but not without some clashes with slave hunters along the way.
Back at the Sainte-Claire house, Augustin Sainte-Claire is heartbroken over the death of his daughter Eva, like all slaves. St. Clare promises Tom his freedom, but before he is done with the papers he is killed in a bar fight. Tom is auctioned off, along with many other slaves from St. Clair.
Tom's new master is Simon Legree, a mean and violent man who works his slaves until they die, then buys new ones at low prices in an endless cycle. Despite Legree's treatment, Tom maintains his honest and kind demeanor. Legree does his best to "toughen up" Tom so that he can use Tom as an overseer on the plantation, but Tom refuses to change no matter how tough he is or how often Legree beats him.
When Tom encourages two slaves, whom Legree uses as prostitutes, to escape, Legree beats Tom to death. It takes him a few days to die, however, and in the meantime, his former master's son, George Shelby, arrives to emancipate (or free) Tom - too late. Instead, "Master" George buries Tom and then leaves.
The two slaves who escaped Legree's house, Cassy and Emmeline, find themselves on the same boat as George Shelby. Cassy confesses her story to him, realizing that George's heart is soft in the face of the plight of the fleeing slaves. Another woman on the ship soon confesses her story to George as well, and it turns out that she is the sister of George Harris, sold south as a slave several years earlier.
George Shelby recounts that George Harris married Eliza and they both escaped to Canada. Cassy, upon hearing the story, puts two and two together and realizes that Eliza is his own daughter, who was taken from her many years before.
