Already suffering the privations of the 1930s dust bowl, an Oklahoma town is further devastated when a passenger train derails - flooding the hospital with the dead and maimed. Most of the dead are Black; scalded to death in a flimsy segregated car at the front of the train. Among the seriously wounded white passengers is the wife of Sheriff Temple Jennings, Etha. Overwhelmed by worry for her, the sheriff must regain his footing to investigate the derailment, which rapidly develops into a case of sabotage.