Marcus Mosiah Garvey, a Jamaican-born political activist and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), is on trial in New York in 1923. Following the leadership of J. Edger Hoover & the BOI (later, the FBI), the government has charged Garvey with mail fraud in connection with selling stocks for the Black Star Line – a shipping line designed to forge a link between North America and Africa. Garvey sees the trial for what it is: an attempt to end the movement by way of character assassination. Realizing his counsel is not up to the task, Garvey fires him and resolves to defend himself. As the trial plays out, flashbacks show glimpses of Garvey’s life before the trial and his relationship with his wife Amy Jacques Garvey. This is the first-ever narrative film about his life.