During the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s in Mississippi, Medgar Evers (Howard E. Rollins Jr.) rose from being an insurance agent to become one of the most integral activists of the era. From boycotting white merchants in the mid '50s to being a key figure in desegregating the University of Mississippi in 1962, Evers met success, and with it many enemies. When racists swarm his house, his life and the lives of his wife (Irene Cara) and children are threatened.