In the late 19th century, Scott Joplin, a young African-American musician, moves to Missouri and to make ends meet finds a job as a piano teacher.

Joplin becomes obsessed with composing more serious music, yet is continually thwarted in his attempt to write and publish an opera.

The film was made as a TV movie that was to air on NBC as Motown Productions' first venture into dramatic television.

[3] After the film tested poorly in Phoenix, Arizona, but strongly in Washington, D.C., it was marketed primarily to black audiences.

"[4] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded 2 stars out of 4 and called it "a turgid film" consisting of "two Joplin successes and a whole mess of failures.