Reverend Willowset and his slave, Herman, is staying at the Macon plantation, and Tom is trying to convince the reverend that he's a moral man. Herman seemed to have possibly caught Ernestine taking a sip of whiskey while preparing it for Tom. Tom passes on the whiskey, likely because he was meeting with the reverend. Meanwhile, Suzanna is upstairs giving birth to their son. She let's out a profanity that can be heard downstairs, shortly after Tom tells the reverend he reads the Bible to his family every Sunday. When Tom's response to the reverend's question about whether he reads the Bible to his slaves was every once in a while, the reverend tells him perhaps seven of his slaves would not have run away if he read to them every Sunday. And when Tom learns Suzanna is finished giving birth to their son, the reverend asks him what they'll name him. Tom says they'll name him Samuel, a biblical name, to which the reverend said it would be even better to baptize him Sunday. Probably caught off guard that Tom would give his son her son's name, Ernestine chimes in telling Tom the river may be too cold for the newborn. Tom says the baby is a Macon and is strong enough for it, but the reverend gave Ernestine a look suggesting he thought something may be going on between Ernestine and Tom. His suspicions are amplified in a later scene when he sees Ernestine leave a room, followed by Tom opening the door looking out at her and then going back into the room and closing the door.
What just transpired in the room was an interesting power play. Ernestine went into the room to tidy it up (or something like that), and Tom who was already in the room, locked both doors to the room. He tried to initiate sex, but she told him they should go down to the wine cellar and not do it in the house. He still tried, until she said she decides when and where assertively. To which Tom yelled it's his house and his rules. But then he apologizes repeatedly and asks her to allow themselves to let go in the moment, because the reverend is stressing him out. So she gives in initially, but then she asks him to please stop, and he does. She then leaves the room.
In a later scene that evening, Herman comes into the kitchen, where Ernestine is slumped in a chair drinking from a bottle. He doesn't say anything, only proceeds to make some sort of concoction that includes some drops of his blood. I initially thought it might be some type of voodoo, especially with him not saying a word, but it seems he was just making paint for the reverend. Meanwhile, Ernestine proceeds to tell him how she was jealous of Pearly Mae, because she was a field hand. She said Pearly Mae was owned during the day, but in the evening she could be with her man and her baby; and could even runaway. They on the other hand, Ernestine and Herman, as house slaves always had to be with their owner and could never get away and be alone. She even went so far as to tell him she killed Pearly Mae! But he still said not one word! In fact, the only sound he made was towards the end of the episode when James and T.R. were making funny faces at him. After not responding to their faces, he let out a yell, and they ran off.
In a later scene, where Reverend Willowset is baptizing the slaves, he whispers in Ernestine's ear, before putting her under water, "I see you Jezebel," and holds her under for quite some time.
Meanwhile, John and Elizabeth write to William Still, about how their "nursery" was coming along. The nursery of course being their holding space for runaways. Given what occurred in the last episode, Kyle Risdin has been keeping an eye on the Hawkes house. When Elizabeth answers a knock at the door, Kyle asks if he can come in while simultaneously letting himself in. He asks Elizabeth how she is holding up, and she says she's been having nightmares. She says home is the one place you should feel safe, to which he tells her he's been keeping a watch on the house for them. John comes down, and Kyle shares with them that a runaway has been spotted in the area. Kyle goes on to say there are only a few places runaways can hide in the area, a couple of barns and the Hawkes house. He then tells John they have been told they must compel all citizens to help them with runaways. John inquires on what that means, and Kyle tells him it means they are making John part of the U.S. Marshall! He then makes John go with him and other men to search for the runaway. Before leaving, John tells Elizabeth he's questioning if he should not just refuse to go and pay any fine if arrested, also mentioning Elizabeth had not told him about her nightmares. Elizabeth told him he has to go, so as to not further any suspicions Kyle may have and to protect their "cargo."
So John goes with Kyle in search of the runaway, the others had gone ahead while John was speaking with Elizabeth. Kyle told John he knows he may have principles, but those principles don't necessarily apply on the ground and he hopes John wouldn't let his principles put Elizabeth in danger. He goes so far as to say that they noticed there was no forced entry the night of the incident, making it seem as though they might have been invited in. John put on an act of seeming appalled by the implication that he would endanger his wife in such a way. Kyle then suggested they look into a barn they were passing. When they went in the runaway attacked them, and Kyle was knocked out. John realized it was Clyde, the man that had been helping he and Elizabeth build their space for runaways in their home. Clyde asked John to help him, and in the next scene Kyle is waking up on the wagon with Elizabeth and John. John asks him if he remembers what happened and then tells him the runaway got away. So Kyle goes to continue the search with the others. When he leaves, they open the enclosure in their wagon, where Clyde was hiding. In the house, Clyde explains that he ran into his master, and though he thought about what he would do if he ever ran into his master, he never thought he would runaway like he did. When John told Clyde he always assumed he was a freedman, Clyde stated he is a free man. Clyde and the other man who had been helping to build out the space for runaways in the Hawkes home, set out, but to no avail. The other man returns to the Hawkes home bloodied and tells them they captured Clyde!
Meanwhile, Rosalee, Noah, Henry, and Cato have been on the run without food for weeks! They are nearly shot at by a White man Henry apparently asked for food. August and Ben are on their trail too. When they hear some men with prostitutes on a boat, they decide to take the boat from them, despite Rosalee saying they hadn't done anything to them. They forced everyone on the boat to get off the boat and jump into the water. But shortly thereafter, August and Ben arrived at the banks. August shoots at them and makes them throw their weapons to the side as he gets on the boat. Rosalee is in the back continuing to untie the boat. August asks where she is by name, but then the boat moves when Rosalee gets the boat untied. A scuffle ensues, and after spotting Rosalee, August jumps overboard with her in his arm. Cato yells at Noah to shoot at August, but Noah doesn't commenting that Noah is the only thing keeping Rosalee a float, because she can't swim. Rosalee puts up a fight, but eventually falls under the water and seems to disappear. Then she pops up in the water closer to the boat and begins to swim!! And it seemed like Cato gave a look of disappointment that Rosalee got away from August. Noah shoots August in the back, as the boat continues to go along. And August swims back to shore.
Rosalee later tells Henry about the time Tom taught her to swim by throwing her in the water, to get Mary to learn to swim. When Henry asks if she was afraid, she says no, because Tom was holding her the whole time and she knew he wouldn't let her go. While looking for clothes on the boat, Rosalee lets out a yelp while looking under the bed. It turns out there was a man hiding under the bed on the boat. He offered to connect them with a Native American that could help them get away, and Noah agreed to give it a try. Cato however was not a fan of the idea, and was even over the song that was supposed to be getting them to freedom but had not panned out. And later, while debating this point, Cato actually went over and pushed the man out of the boat! In another scene, with Rosalee, Cato tells her she's holding them back and useless like the man he pushed over the boat, pointing out August asked for her by name and that she's clearly Tom's daughter. He tells her they'll never stop coming after them as long as she's with them. And the next morning, Noah discovers that Rosalee isn't on the boat! He blames Cato and attacks him, adding he knows Cato's also responsible for what happened to Zeke and never believed Cato's story! Cato whips back that Noah wanted someone to be sacrificed so Moses and Boo could get away.
Now onshore, August had swam back and told his son he was fine. They encountered one of the prostitutes from the boat who offers to show them where the river bends (August broke the rudder of the boat, so it wouldn't get further than the river bend) in exchange for allowing her to ride with them, because they were in Indian territory. August agrees, and has her ride with Ben. As they leave they encounter Seminoles, and August approaches them speaking their language and takes his shirt off. They approach him and slash him with their spears and then leave them alone. August tells the prostitute and Ben that it's a ritual to show them he's not an enemy. Then they go to the brothel/bar, and Tom tells Ben he's going to get shut eye and that that would give Ben enough time to get to know her. I was in shock, and yet not surprised, that August paid a prostitute to sleep with Ben. But later the prostitute comes to August's room, and when he asks what she's doing there, she says he paid him. She says she talked to Ben like he asked, so I guess he paid her to talk to Ben and not sleep with Ben, and then proceeded to talk to him about his sick wife (Ben had shared this info with her). She told him about her sick mother, and how her dying was the best day of her life. The two had sex, and when she left the room in the morning Ben went inside after waiting outside on the hallway floor. He tells his father he's going to the post to send off his letter to his mother. And later, at the bend, August is approached by Jeremiah Johnson and a gang of other men with guns. It turns out they knew about August, and learned even more about what he was doing from the prostitute. They gave him two options, have a shoot out and inevitably die or let them join him in capturing the runaways and split the bounty. But then Ben rides up and tells August they received a telegram that his mother had runaway from the hospital, to which Jeremiah said it looks like a third option has presented itself. And August rides off with Ben to the hospital.
The gang of men wait on the banks of the river bend, and Henry, Noah, and Cato spot them as the boat approaches. As they stand on the boat seemingly ready to fight, having nothing to lose, gunfire is heard and the men are shot. Henry proclaims what luck, but Noah says it isn't luck. Then the Seminoles come out, along with Rosalee, who is dressed in Seminole attire. Guess she wasn't as useless as Cato thought!!