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The Price of a Child is a story of a young woman, traveling with her slave owner and two of her three children. Ginnie Pryor takes the bold step of declaring her freedom and beginning a new life as a free woman. Her only regret is that her youngest child, Bennie, is with her owner’s wife in Virginia and may be sold off as a result of her actions. Philadelphia in 1855 is the main setting for this story.

Chapter One: Crazy Hope

Ginnie Pryor and her two children have traveled to Philadelphia with Jackson Pryor, who has been named ambassador to Nicaragua. Jackson wants Ginnie to keep on as his servant and sexual partner. To keep her under his control, Jackson has let Ginnie bring only two of her three children on this trip. He leaves Ginnie and the children at their Philadelphia hotel while he goes for dinner. Ginnie recalls people and events from her past. She thinks about a failed escape when she was pregnant with her first child. She tries to get help in escaping from slavery by asking a servant for help at the hotel. A young man, Nig-Nag, hears her words and gets a message to a friend who can help her escape.

Chapter Two: Stand

Nig-Nag plays messenger. He tells a number of Vigilance Committee members about Ginnie’s plight. Pennsylvania law allows Ginnie to take her children and walk away to freedom. On the ferry to New Jersey, William Still and Passmore Williamson talk to Ginnie. They tell her that she can be free by standing and leaving her owner. Despite Jackson’s protests that Ginnie belongs to him and will lose her youngest child if she leaves, Ginnie stands and walks away with her two children. Ginnie is helped by five African American porters. Jackson tries to stop them but Ginnie and her children ride off in a carriage driven by Tyree Quick anyway. Ginnie begins to breathe freedom.

Chapter Three: The Quick and the Dead

Tyree and his uncle, Jeremiah, drive Ginnie to the Olive Cemetery. The Quick family is picnicking and honoring their ancestors. During the ride, Tyree and Jeremiah talk about the family business and history. Ginnie fears for the safety of her youngest child, Bennie. At the cemetery, she meets the members of the Quick family. Reverend Ephraim Johns reads from the Bible to honor Ginnie’s new freedom.

Chapter Four: Mercy

Ginnie begins to get the idea that the Quicks are a powerful family capable of keeping her safe. She begins to compare the many members. Ginnie likes Harriet who is a young schoolteacher. Harriet, like her twin brother, Tyree, is active in the abolitionist movement. Harriet helps Ginnie choose a new name to represent her new life. She selects the name, Mercy Gray, based on a dream of a gray cat and the mercy so many had recently shown her.

Chapter Five: Family

Ginnie is persuaded to take the name of Mercer. The name fits her new life. So she takes the name of Mercer Gray. The topic of childbirth begins the chapter. Mercer lives with Aunt Bea and gets many flea bites. Her son, Mattie gets a bad fever. This changes plans. It is not considered safe for them to stay in Philadelphia because of the chance of revenge from Jackson Pryor. Due to Mattie’s bad health, Mercer and her children are forced to stay at Bea’s home, in the shed. Harriet visits them and brings books for the children. She invites Mercer to go to a lecture on structure of the body. Harriet is having the lecture at her parents’ home. Mercer also goes to a service with the Quicks at the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church. As was feared, Pryor files charges, and Still and the porters are arrested for assault and battery. Williamson is put into prison for contempt of court because he failed to bring Mercer when ordered to do so.

Chapter Six: Happy Few

The Quicks discuss the need to move Mercer for her safety. They realize that if Mercer and her children are separated they will be harder to trace. Tyree convinces his Aunt Zilpha, who lives in West Chester, to let Mercer come and stay with her. The children stay in Philadelphia. Tyree and Blanche always fight, giving the impression that this is not a happy marriage. Tyree makes a move on Mercer, but they stop at a kiss. He tries to bury his attraction to Mercer by having sex with his wife. Blanche is very troubled and guilt ridden over an abortion. Zilpha and Mercer set off for West Chester, where Mercer begins a whole new way of life.

Chapter Seven: Make Your Mark

As a favor from Harriet, Mercer visits Eliza Ruffin, president of the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society and Passmore Williamson’s cousin. Eliza asks Mercer to sign a paper saying that Mercer left Jackson Pryor of her own free will. Eliza hopes that the case against Passmore will then be dropped. Mercer knows she may need to appear in court. This could harm her freedom, but she agrees to help. Also, Mercer attends a Ladies Anti-Slavery meeting during which she is asked to share her stories as a slave and show her scars while the members drink tea and eat cake. Mrs. Eugenia Pitts takes Mercer to New York. Mercer sees filth and poverty. She is brought to Mr. Henry’s law office. At this time Mercer goes back to using her slave name, Virginia Pryor, as she talks about her escape.

Chapter Eight: Hard Swearing

After she gives her statement, Mercer stays in New York at a boarding house. She hears the famous speaker and ex-slave, William Wells Brown, at an abolitionist event and is greatly inspired by his talk. Tyree comes for a visit and brings her news from Philadelphia. He takes her on her first visit to a restaurant and promises to attend the trial for Williamson, Still, and the five porters. In spite of Mercer’s sworn oath, Williamson stays in prison. Mercer agrees to go to his trial. Mercer and Eliza Ruffin go to the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mercer is taken to the court under the protection of female Quakers. Tryee, Harriet, Aunt Bea, and Jeremiah are at the courtroom to support Mercer. After two witnesses speak, Mercer is sworn in as Virginia Pryor and tells the story of her escape. Her statement is well received. Judge Wells shows sympathy to Southern interests but he stands by Pennsylvania law. After seeing Nig-Nag outside, and being safely guarded, Mercer leaves the court and is taken to Mary Sterling’s home to be safe. Pryor meets a slave catcher named Keller and pays him to punish one of the men who helped Mercer escape.

Chapter Nine: Waiting

Mercer joins with Mattie, Etta, and the Quicks. She encourages her children to keep a written record of their lives. Prudence Randall asks Mercer about making a lecture tour about her experiences through New England. Because of her unsure position in the recent undecided court case, Mercer can not make up her mind. She moves from Aunt Bea’s shed to Harriet’s rooms in Mrs. Becker’s house. By day, she works for the Quicks; by night, Harriet helps her with her education.

Chapter Ten: Strong as Death

An answer is reached and Mercer and her children are free. All six men are found not guilty of rioting and it is agreed that no kidnapping has taken place. The Quicks hold a celebration dinner and Nig-Nag is an invited guest. Nig-Nag is given some reward money and celebrates by getting drunk. This allows Keller to have his two thugs beat up Nig-Nag and kidnap Jack and Bo-Bo for sale as slaves. This sends a powerful message to those who helped Mercer and other slaves get freedom. Nig-Nag tries to get help for his two friends but is too late. He is so badly beaten that he dies in Ephraim’s church and is buried in the public cemetery for poor people. Nig-Nag’s death helps Mercer decide to do the speaking tour. Tyree and Harriet help her with her notes, and Tyree takes her to hear a famous speaker for the Negro Emigrationist Society, Wayland Silver. Mercer’s eyes are opened to the control many white abolitionists want to have over African Americans’ lives and opportunities.

Chapter Eleven: Her Father’s Tooth

Mercer begins her talks in a Massachusetts church. At first she is nervous and afraid. She fears that she will offend the audience with the real truths about slavery. Once she finds that she is getting her message across, she feels a sense of peace and purpose.

Chapter Twelve: Fire and Sword

Manny Quick’s health and mental state are poor. Tyree feels a duty to his family, but he also wants to find a way to have a life with Mercer. Tryee speaks with his father and tries to find out about the family’s money. His father says that Roland, Tyree’s dead brother, took the family’s money and that Manny’s sister, Aunt Bea, knows something about it. Tyree next tries to speak to Aunt Bea, who is drunk on gin and not much help either. Bea actually has all of Roland’s money for his trip to Africa stuffed in a hole in her mattress. Tyree writes to Mercer, who is still on tour. He tells her his concerns for her safety in upstate Pennsylvania. Tyree comes to hear her speak near Harrisburg and they are forced to run and hide when the building, Justice Hall, is attacked and burned.

Chapter Thirteen: The Land of the Living

Tyree and Mercer drive to Zilpha’s home in West Chester, which is closed up while Zilpha helps to take care of her brother, Manny. They have a romantic meeting and talk about their future together in Canada. Tyree comes home to see his dying father. He again speaks to his father about the family’s money, and again his brother Roland’s name comes up. Tyree goes to check on Bea, who is again drunk and who knocks over an oil lamp. He is cleaning the urine she has poured on the bricks outside the house when a fire starts inside her room. He rushes to save Bea, who tells him about the money in her bed. After saving the house, Tyree finds only $500. He sadly realizes that he cannot leave his family to take care of themselves with that small amount of cash. Manny dies and the family plans the funeral. Mercer and her two children leave to start a new life, taking the same boat they were to have taken with Pryor.