Basing the works on the 1913 trial of Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan,[1] Micheaux used the detective genre to introduce different voices and conflicting accounts by his characters.

Author-turned-attorney Henry Glory is hired by the accused man's sister to defend him.

The film is loosely based on the real life case of Leo Frank.

However, it changes the details of the real case, which was highly prejudicial against Frank due to his being a Jewish man in Georgia.

Unlike in the film, Frank's guilt is often viewed with great skepticism due to his never receiving a fair trial.