During World War I, impoverished African-American father Frank Custer (Damien Leake) leaves his Southern family and heads to Chicago in search of work. After landing a job at one of the city's many slaughterhouses, he gets caught up in the heated debate over organized labor. Before long he emerges as a hypnotic leader, urging his peers to join the union, a move that puts him at odds with his best friend, Thomas (Ernest Rayford), who starts to question Frank's motivations for backing the union.
