 From a true story. In Atlanta in 1913, a 13-year-old girl is murdered in the factory where she works. The factory manager, a Jew named Leo Frank, is convicted and sentenced to hang. Georgia Governor John Slaton suspects that Frank may have been railroaded by public desire for revenge and hatred of Frank s religion and northern (US) ties. But as a rising politician, Slaton also knows that to violate such strong public opinion by questioning the judgment would be political suicide. Will his conscience overcome his ambition?