Jupiter is a horse-breaker and coach driver, and was born into slavery. During a freak electrical storm, he is struck by lighting which gives him the power of immortality, and makes his scars translucent. Jupiter escapes to the North and finds the abolitionist and former enslaved person, Harriet Tubman. With help of other free slaves and abolitionist -- he plots a rescue of his love from the infamous Chateau.
Yusef Komunyakaa (born April 29, 1947) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Komunyakaa received the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for his enduring contribution to the poetry world.
His subject matter ranges from the black general experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights time period and his experience as a soldier during the Vietnam War.