It is 1973. A small college town in Southern Illinois is terrorized by a spree of sadistic assaults. The rapist tells the victims--all Asian women--that he is making them pay for America's betrayal in Vietnam. When the only other Black faculty member is accused of the crimes, African American philosophy professor Nathan ''Ribs'' Rivers struggles to suspend his doubts about his colleague's innocence.
Rivers reluctantly yields to the urgings of his students and takes up leadership of a campus coalition formed to advocate for a fair trial. Professor Rivers embarks on a vision quest for the truth that is as much about his character as it is about the crimes--a quest that threatens to topple his family and career, ignites in him a spiritual crisis, and plunges him headlong toward lethal unknowns.