John Duigan's reverential account of a lonely farmer who helps an escaped slave in antebellum North Carolina is a good-looking film, but has little else that makes it recommendable. After his wife dies in childbirth, August King (Jason Patric) decides to help runaway slave Annalees Williams (Thandie Newton) after he learns of the abuses inflicted upon her by her master, Olaf Singletary (Larry Drake). Since, by law, he risks losing everything he owns, this is a serious decision. Unfortunately, the film is too empty and slowly paced to have much dramatic impact. Nonetheless, the cast does its utmost with the simple material, and Slawomir Idziak's magnificent shots of the Blue Ridge Mountains are almost worth the price of admission alone.