Of One Blood

We open with a man with a long white beard, who is apparently God, standing in a library and writing the names of the Ellis family in his book of life. They are the couple Zeke and Zenobia, and their sons—in order of age, from oldest to youngest—Zebedee, Zachariah and Zion. A voice-over narration says that, though an ordinary family, he is particularly interested in their lives.

Large-scale flooding forces this poor black family to load up their wagon and relocate. On their journey, a kindly white mill owner helps them out by giving them supplies, including food and two fresh mules. When Zachariah is thrown off one of the mules, he's injured and they must take him to the hospital. But the road they take is gated and closed, with a sign saying to take another road. They decide to ignore the warning and press on, as it's the shortest route. Along the way, there is more rain, and the road washes away. The levee breaks and throws them from their wagon. We soon see Zebedee and Zion swimming to shore. We return to the library, and God has marked in his book that Zeke and Zenobia have now died. He almost adds Zachariah, but then hesitates. It's then that we see Zachariah swimming to shore, a bandage around his head from the fall from the mule. However, he is separated from his brothers.

We then see Zebedee and Zion in a Red Cross Emergency Station, where a nurse asks them about their family. A young man there named Wesley Hill informs them that their parents have died (how he knows that is not explained), and that they probably won't see their brother again, so he says they should hop a train with him and head north where he lives to avoid being put in an orphanage. And so we next see Zebedee, Zion and Wesley in a train yard, doing just what Wesley advised. They're off, but when the train stops to take on supplies, Wesley gets out to try and find them some water to drink. He runs back with a couple of cups of water, but the train is already moving and he's unable to...