After violence shatters a peaceful protest, the lone Black female detective in major crimes is thrust into an investigation, uncovering chilling connections to a decades-old KKK massacre.
We open on masked domestic terrorists preparations for a cross burning.
ORA-JEAN CONNOR, the only Black female detective on the Guilford County force is at the home of a couple who found a cross burning on their lawn in the wee hours, while her rookie partner SIMMS, waits in the car, Ora Jean takes their statement, then heads to a briefing with her boss SHERIFF POLE.
Pole warns that hate group violence is on the rise, privately he tells Ora Jean he knows she’s looking forward to the parol today, of her son, GELL CONNOR, home after ten years incarcerated. Ora-Jean’s daughter WILLA CONNOR, a budding photo journalist and activist is home for the reunion, but she’s also covering the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings that are about to begin in Greensboro. Willa disapproves of the fact that Rita-Jean won’t consider testifying at the hearings. Gell’s just stepped off the bus, nervous about the homecoming. He is dogged by a troubled teen, BREE, whom he gently rejects — but later when this same white teen, is found beaten and assaulted, Gell will have regrets. Ora-Jean gets the call to head out to the crime scene, evidence and witnesses of the attack, are murky. Bree was sighted at a skin head youth rally and perhaps the suspects came from there. When Ora Jean interviews the Fords about their daughter, Bree provides unreliable details relating to “Black Suspects” and we learn that Munce Ford, Bree’s father has a past dating back to the Greensboro Massacre and ties to white nationalists. That night, his daughter dies in the hospital from her injuries.
Deborah Goodwin has written for Emmy-winning and Independent Spirit Award nominated Producers, and for shows like the cult favorite horror series “Tales from The Cryptkeeper.” She is a Film Independent (FIND) and IFP lab (The Gotham) fellow, best known for her horror fable Vampires in Venice, (Marché du Film Cannes) and The Pastor, an action-drama released by Fathom Events and AMC. Deborah is a Sundance Institute Co//ab advisor and screenwriting professor at NYU/Tisch and Brooklyn College, recently she wrote and co-created the noir-crime series Hot Freeze, based on IP of the same title, the pilot sold to Canadian producer Nomadic (Fargo, Van Helsing, Hell on Wheels) Deborah spent a decade in development in Hollywood before getting traction as a screenwriter and independent filmmaker, selling her first animated spec and winning the Grand Jury Prize at Urbanworld Film Festival. Most recently - Deborah created and launched the scripted podcast/audio series Fear, A Love Story rated among the top 100 fiction podcasts in 2022 with over 78,000 downloads on Apple in S1 — 2022 - S2 —2023 and S3 2025 launched with an 9/10 on Amazon, now available on all platforms.
