A Sky Original film, The United States vs Billie Holiday follows the legendary Holiday, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, who spent much of her career being adored by fans across the globe. However, beginning in the 1940s in New York City, the federal government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to escalate and racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial and heart-wrenching ballad, "Strange Fruit".