Guinea John, mythical ancestor of Blackpeople in Trinidad, put two corncobs under his armpits and flew away from the scene of his enslavement, back to Africa. But his descendants, having eaten salt, were too heavy to fly and could not follow....One hundred years after official Emancipation, the diverse people of Trinidad - African, Asian, and European - still have not settled into the New World. Two men set out to free them from "old captivities" and to welcome them to their island homeland. Alford George, a teacher turned politician, works through the government. Bango Durity, a worker and activist, organizes populist rallies. Around them swirl a cast of unforgettable men and women, each telling his own story in his own voice, each striving with passion and wit to make sense of life in a still-young country where the roles of enslaved and landowner still linger, but "the sky, the sea, every green leaf and tangle of vines sing freedom."