And What Difference is There in the Colour of the Soul? A hardworking farmer and an exceptional fiddler, Solomon Northup is born a free man of colour. He lives happily with his wife and children in Saratoga County, New York, until the day an employment offer at a circus changes his life. Tricked, drugged and kidnapped, Northup gets sold as a slave. And for the twelve years that follow, he lives in bondage under different masters . . .