In 1920s rural Mississippi Nancy Mannigoe an African-American servant is placed on death row for the murder of Temple Drake's infant child. Temple the daughter of the governor pleads with her father to exonerate Nancy of the charges explaining that Nancy acted in haste to prevent her from resuming her affair with a roguish Cajun called Candy Man. Details of Temple's sordid past are uncovered as she begs mercy for her faithful servant.