It starts in 1583 with American Indian tribes warring, moves with English settlers through the 17th century (land appropriation, tobacco farming, indentured servitude, religious persecution, etc.

), slavery, pirate attacks, the American Revolution and the Civil War, Emancipation and attempted assimilation, to the final major event being the Watergate scandal of 1972-1974.

[3] Michener developed four fictional pieces of land in Maryland to build the locations of his novel: Patamoke and The Neck; The Turlock Marsh; Peace Cliff; and Devon Island on which Rosalind's Revenge was built.

Later in the book, Cudjo Cater is captured in Africa and put to work on the Steed plantation, where he buys his freedom and settles in the nearby township with a wife.

Prior to the American Civil War (1861–1865), the Paxmores form the Maryland link of the "Underground Railroad" to free territory in Pennsylvania, which Cudjo contemplates using before he buys his freedom.

While they are one of the families closest to nature throughout the whole novel, akin to most of the Indians, they live in the same one bedroom shack built in the 17th century, and the children often watch the adults' sexual activity.

The other side of poverty is the place in the township dubbed "The Neck" in the 20th century, where all the Negro housing is located, including a separate segregated school and baseball diamond.

Living standards are greatly reduced in "The Neck", with the school teacher managing multiple years, and children counting themselves privileged to have either a book or a desk.

Edmund Steed settles on Devon Island and builds his home, complete with chapel, and founds his great plantation from the ground up with land bought from the Indians.