Life in the Mississippi Delta in 1969 was good to Paul Lane, a young lawyer, turned investigator for the local district attorney. He was educated, personable and back home where he grew up. Importantly at that time, he happened to be white. When a young girl and then another is murdered in the small community of Interstate in very rural Bolivar County, Mississippi, the investigation falls to him. The likely suspect to the sheriff is Tyrone Braid, a young former high school football star and parolee who lived in close proximity to the victims. Notably, Tyrone was black. Though nothing but circumstantial evidence points to him, the sheriff is convinced of Tyrone's guilt and so is the local Citizen's Council, an offshoot of the Klan, who takes matters into their own hands and orders a hit on him. Paul is then faced with the unenviable task of bringing the killer to justice, be it Tyrone or someone else, while protecting Tyrone in the meantime from the vigilante Citizen's Council and their contract killer.