Sheriff Bascomb (Lee Marvin) tries to keep the peace as racial strife hits his small Alabama town, where the mayor sides with local Klansmen. Tensions boil over when a black man is accused of raping a white woman (Linda Evans) and an angry man (O.J. Simpson) resorts to vigilante justice. As outsiders arrive for a civil rights rally, the KKK organizes a lynching party. Richard Burton, Lola Falana and Cameron Mitchell co-star.