Life opens up in Harlem 1932, where Ray Gibson is known as a small-time con man indebted to a gangster. Ray spots a bank teller named Claude Banks and Ray decides to rob his wallet looking for some...

Life opens up in Harlem 1932, where Ray Gibson is known as a small-time con man indebted to a gangster. Ray spots a bank teller named Claude Banks and Ray decides to rob his wallet looking for some easy cash. But it turns out that he's broke, too. Ray and Claude's mutual need to raise some cash brings them together when Spanky offers them a job bringing back a load of moonshine from bootleggers in the deep south. However, things don't go well for Ray and Claude, and they're arrested by a sheriff in Mississippi who recently killed a man and needs someone on whom he can hang the charge. Since Ray and Claude are black, from out of town and have been caught red-handed with a load of illegal liquor, the sheriff figures they're easy pickings and frames them for the murder. Next they get sentenced LIFE in prison, still hoping one day they would be freed.