Jackson, Mississippi 1925, Samuel ‘Sam’ Mayfield witnesses a daring daylight bank robbery. Later that night, Sam learns his sister, Darla, who is mentally challenged and his girlfriend Essie Anne, are in trouble with his cousin, Cousin Wilbur, and a white man. Sam confronts the white man, who happens to be the bank robber and Cousin Wilbur. Sam is shot and left for dead. He wakes to find his sister dead and his girlfriend gone. Days later, his uncle dies. The bank robber and Cousin Wilbur killed Darla are responsible for the tragic losses.
 
Sam vows to find and kill Cousin Wilbur, who is New York City’s Harlem. Sam's perilous journey is life threatening, as he deals with the Klu Klux Klan and dogs. He befriends a gentle giant, and continues the journey to New York together, but for different reasons.
 
Once in New York, Sam meets one of the powers in Harlem, Vandue Grandville. He is a worldly man, a teacher, and a gangster. Sam’s quest for revenge throws him in the mix of Harlem gangsters and the clutches of prohibition. His revenge seeking is bittersweet, but he is a man of his word.