The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Everett, Percival. James. Doubleday, 2024.

Percival Everett's novel James is a retelling of Mark Twain's original Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In James, Jim has narrative authority and tells his story from his first person perspective and in his own words. The novel is primarily set in the Missouri region of the American South and takes place in the months leading up to the American Civil War. The guide is largely written in the past tense; but for the sake of clarity, this guide employs the present tense and a linear mode of explanation.

Jim lives in a cabin with his wife Sadie and daughter Lizzie in Hannibal, Missouri. He was born into enslavement, and has always known Miss Watson and Judge Thatcher as his white owners. Because he lives in bondage, Jim is compliant. He even plays along with the local white boys Huck's and Tom's games so as to avoid trouble.

Then one day, Sadie informs Jim that Watson and Thatcher want to sell him to another man further south in New Orleans. Desperate to keep his family together, Jim says goodbye to Sadie and Lizzie and hides out on the nearby Jackson Island. He does not want to run north, because he fears losing his family forever. Shortly thereafter, Huck finds Jim on the island and insists that they run away together. Huck's father is an abusive alcoholic and Huck faked his own death to escape him. Now the townspeople believe that Jim murdered Huck and fled.

Jim and Huck make their way down the Mississippi River. They do not have a destination in mind, but row down the river at night and camp and forage in the woods by day. Then one day, two conmen who call themselves the Duke and the King join their party. The men are white and belligerent. They immediately demand that Jim pose as their property, insisting that they will sell him in town for money. One night, they bring Jim to the local livery and tell the enslaved blacksmith, Easter, to shackle Jim. In the morning, the Duke and King are furious when they return and discover that Easter unshackled Jim. They start beating Easter when Easter's overseer, Mr. Wiley, appears and stops them. Wiley demands that the men leave Jim to help Easter now that he is injured. The men leave with Huck.

The next day, Wiley makes a deal with Daniel Decatur Emmett, the leader of a singing group called the Virginia Minstrels. He sells Jim to Emmett because Emmett wants a new tenor. Through the group, Jim is forced to perform a warped version of Blackness. Although humiliated and confused, Jim is hopeful that Emmett will pay him and he will be able to use the money to buy Sadie and Lizzie's freedom. Not long later, however, he realizes that he has to run.

Another member of the singing group named Norman, flees shortly after Jim. Norman is also Black, although he has been passing for white. Norman offers to pose as Jim's owner, sell him in town, and give the money to Jim to buy his family. Norman sells him to Old Man Henderson, and Jim and another enslaved girl named Sammy flee the following day. While Jim, Norman, and Sammy are crossing the river, however, Henderson appears and shoots Sammy.

Jim and Norman bury Sammy and return to the river. They soon climb aboard a riverboat where they hear news of a coming war between the slave states and the northern states. Then the riverboat engine explodes, throwing the passengers overboard. Jim surfaces and hears Norman and Huck calling him. Jim chooses to save Huck instead of Norman. He later tells Huck he made this decision because Huck is his son.

Jim and Huck make their way back to Hannibal. Jim discovers that Thatcher sold Sadie and Lizzie. He breaks into Thatcher's office in search of their bills of sale. When Thatcher appears, Jim threatens him and Thatcher reveals Sadie and Lizzie's whereabouts at Graham farm in Edina. Jim travels to Edina. He lights the Graham cornfield on fire, kills the white overseer, reunites with Sadie and Lizzie, and flees north to safety.