Mildred Johnson is orphaned when her parents are killed in a violent protest for voting rights in the South in the 1950s. Her aunt, Rose Johnson, a passionate devotee of the blues, snatches her up and flees to Chicago to live with a relative. Years later, the two join a campaign to elect the city’s first black mayor and Mildred is drawn out of her shell when she meets and falls for O'Kanta, the head of a grassroots organization involved in a voter registration drive. Against the backdrop of a heated political campaign, she is taken down a path of self-discovery as she learns the truth about her and Aunt Rose’s past.