In 1931, nine African-American boys, 13 to 19 years old, were pulled from a freight in Painted Rock, Alabama, as were two disheveled white women. Accused of raping the women, the nine went to trial in neighboring Scottsboro, beginning a tortuous ordeal of racism, exploitation, sensationalism and international furor. With precise eye to the intricacies of the incident and its subsequent repercussions, the film elaborates upon the unlikely union between the Communist Party and showman lawyer Sam Liebowitz in their efforts to simultaneously spare the boys and use them to their own ends. The film underscores the sheer corruption of the racist state and a remarkable mobilization of ordinary people against injustice. It sheds light on a neglected history of nine boys who once jumped a train only to discover themselves railroaded into a lifetime of wrongful incarceration and final obscurity.