Set in southern Louisiana, it is loosely based on the 1887 sugar strike in four parishes and violence that erupted in the Thibodaux massacre.

[1] Following Reconstruction and white Democrats regaining control of the state government, in the late 1880s, freedmen worked hard on sugar cane plantations but were bound by many of the planters' practices.

This leads to massive retaliation by the most powerful men in the town, including the sheriff, the preacher, power-hungry Billy Duke, and his vigilante group of thugs.

Despite assistance from a Yankee attorney, Paxton is convicted in a trial presided by Judge Duke, Billy's father.

After being sent to prison, beaten within inches of his life, and enduring emotional torture, Paxton "comes back" to seek revenge.