Charleston, South Carolina in 1910 is the scene of a true story. There is a trial in the town, a triangle of animosities. A Jewish merchant murdered, a black man accused and a white populace primed for a hanging.

A reporter from New York arrives to cover the story. Hal Hinson follows the facts, but finds that Charleston is a much more complex and seductive city than he imagined.

He discovers a dangerous balance in the racial divide, a country of beauty and cruelty and a love story that echoes of Shakespeare in its ending.