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?