An unpopular court decision by town Judge Parker Denison (Richard Widmark) to bus select black students to white schools threatens to tear the community apart when two teens -- one who is black, the other who is white -- steal and wreck a school bus in protest. Sadly, only one of the teens survives the brutal accident; the other runs off and goes into hiding. Tensions mount as anxious family members await the results of the autopsy identifying the body.