1913. The year heart-sick Max trav­els to Atlanta to find Ruby, his lost love and child­hood friend. And the year New York Jew, Leo Frank, is charged with the mur­der of a child labor­er at the Nation­al Pen­cil Fac­to­ry. Max is Jew­ish and Ruby’s Black. Their reunion takes place just as Frank is arrest­ed, a racial­ly charged event that sparks an explo­sion of anti-Semi­tism across the city of Atlanta. 

Max lands a job as a cub work­ing under the Atlanta Journal’s star reporter, Harold Ross, who would lat­er found the New York­er. Ruby’s worked at the Nation­al Pen­cil Fac­to­ry since she was 13. Although reunit­ed, the lovers’ road to hap­pi­ness is in doubt after each becomes inti­mate­ly involved in Frank’s tri­al, one that pits Blacks and Jews against each other. 

Both Max and Harold love Ruby and when she is called to tes­ti­fy by the pros­e­cu­tion, they work to pro­tect her. She is required to pro­tect her­self. Togeth­er, the three bear wit­ness from the mur­der of Mary Pha­gan, to the tri­al and lynch­ing of Leo Frank and the found­ing of the ADL.