"Beloved" begins in 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the protagonist Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, has been living with her 18-year-old daughter Denver at 124 Bluestone Road. The book explores the lives of Sethe and her daughter after their escape from slavery, beginning in 1873 after the Civil War. Their Cincinnati home has been haunted for years by what they believe is the ghost of Sethe's eldest daughter. Because of the haunting—which often involves objects being thrown around the room—Sethe's youngest daughter Denver is shy, friendless, and housebound. Sethe's sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away from home by the age of 13. Sethe believes they fled because of the malevolent ghost. Baby Suggs, the mother of Sethe's husband Halle, lived with the family but died in her bed soon after the boys fled, eight years before the start of the novel.