When a little girl in South Carolina finds a rope under a tree one summer, she has no idea it will become part of her family's history. But for three generations, that very rope is passed down, used for everything from jump rope games to tying suitcases onto a car for the big move north to New York City - and even for a family reunion, where that first little girl is now a grandmother. This rope, a simple but beloved possession, frames the family's story as we follow them on their journey north during the time of the Great Migration, when millions of African American families relocated from the rural South.