The Whipping Man is set in a crumbling home in Richmond, VA, in the days following the end of the Civil War. The day Lee surrendered to Grant was the first day of Passover in 1865, and the play takes place during the middle of that period. The house was once the grand home of the DeLeons, an influential, Jewish southern family. The DeLeons' slaves adopted their faith. The former slaves and self-identified Jews are forced to face their own contradictions as they celebrate the historic freeing of the Hebrews from captivity. This play is about captives confronting their captors, and the realization that with free will comes responsibilities which far outreach anyone's comprehension.