British Guiana, 1823. In the years following Waterloo West Indian prosperity reached its zenith. But the planters' wealth was counted in slaves, and this brought them into bitter contact with the abolitionists and their supporters. 'Ratoon' is the story of the planters and their women, of the soldiers, and of the slaves themselves. It is a story of violence and bloodshed, of heroism and brutality. But it is also a story of a group of simple men who fervently believed the justice of their cause. The plantation heiress Joan Dart, fall in love with the black rebel Jackey Reed.