Summary: Matewan, West Virginia. May 19, 1920. Police Chief Sid Hatfield sits in the town square. He's declined bribes and payoffs to help protect the coal miners of Matewan but the Baldwin Felts detective agency has its own plans. Backed by the coal industry and commercial railroad they've fabricated a deadly standoff, in the largest American uprising since the civil war.

Summary: 15 months after the Matewan Massacre, Sid Hatfield was gunned down in front of a courthouse. The Baldwin Felts agents had gotten their revenge and planted guns on the dead. The miner's anger boiled over and they'd finally had enough. They got their rifles and headed to Blair Mountain. Where Sheriff Chafin, Governor Morgan, Logan County officials, and Military Leader General Harry Bandholtz waited for their charge.