Long-held racial and economic divisions percolate in Atlanta; when African American children begin disappearing and showing up dead, the city is on the verge of an unprecedented crisis; outraged members of the black community call for swift action.

As distrust in the police and city officials deepens, citizens take matters into their own hands; the FBI is called upon to step in; conspiracy theories take root; talent scout Wayne Williams may have been recruiting some of the victims.

With the city's reputation on the line, law enforcement faces immense pressure to make an arrest; an FBI stakeout of the city's bridges leads investigators to Wayne Williams, who becomes the main suspect in the killings and is promptly arrested.

Prosecutors introduce evidence they assert links Wayne Williams to 10 of the child murders; drawing on hair and carpet fibers found on the victims that allegedly match items in Williams' car and home, the jury delivers a swift guilty verdict.

In the mid-1980s, Wayne Williams' appeals attorney receives shocking new evidence connecting members of the Klan to the murders; an undercover informant and several investigators take the stand as a judge evaluates Williams' plea for a retrial.