A music producer in the south during the 1950’s loves the sound of music that is being produced by black musicians. However, he is very aware that they cannot record their own music, especially down south, which is where he lives.

He uses his profession to continue a forbidden relationship that he has carried on for 15 years, one with a black woman, one that has produced an athletically gifted son who appears white. While he resides in Meridian Mississippi with his alcoholic wife and two sons, the music allows him to travel to Birmingham Alabama where his “other” family resides.

Marion wants to help blacks advance their careers, and because there has been some break through in the North, and he has some connections up there, he does what he can to help. However, because of his second family in Birmingham, he loses almost all connection with his white family in Meridian, including the fact that his oldest son has become so consumed with hate that he has joined the Klan.