In 1917, Oklahoma's Working Class Union has already made headlines by dynamiting cattle-dipping vats in protest of tenant farming abuses. When the U.S. enters WWI and starts drafting young men, hundreds of Socialist-aligned farmers — white, black, and Native — gather near the rural town of Sasakwa chanting "Rich man's war, poor man's fight."

They plan to march to Washington, D.C., with thousands more joining along the way, then overthrow the government and abolish the draft.

However, an informer tips off authorities. Posses meet the rebels less than ten miles from where they started. Shots are exchanged and three die, including a Black tenant farmer.

450 are arrested, 150 are convicted, some sentenced to a decade in prison. Oklahoma's Socialist Party never recovers.