A family endures the hardships of a labor strike in a small town dependent on the factory in which the father works. His eldest son has a love affair with the boss' daughter. Soon the boss calls in replacement workers who are guarded by troops, and the strikers overrun the factory and beat the scabs. When the father helps a wounded man who is a strikebreaker, he is beaten by his own brethren strikers. He talks them into negotiating with the management, but the peaceful demonstration of unity brings out troops who fire on the crowd. The father is near death from his wounds and several workers are killed. Although taken from actual historical accounts of the strike, there is an eerie resemblance to the Ford motor company worker strike in Detroit in the 1930s in which Henry Ford ordered the troops to fire on the strikers.