Fabian Socialists from Great Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated. As the native populations adopt advances in steam technology as their own, an uneasy truce between the country's many factions leads to a revolt against Leopold's harsh reign.