In 1970 The Ford County Times one of Mississipi's more colourful weekly newspapers went bankrupt To the surprise & dismay of many ownership was assumed by 23-year-old college drop-out Willie Traynor The future of the paper looked grim until a young mother was brutally raped & murdered by a member of the notorious Padgitt family Traynor reported all the gruesome details & his newspaper began to prosper The murderer Danny Padgitt was tried before a packed courtroom in Clanton Mississippi The trial came to a startling dramatic end when the defendant threatened revenge against the jurors if they convicted him Nevertheless they found him guilty & he was sentenced to life in prison But in Mississippi in 1970 'life' didn't necessarily mean 'life' & nine years later Danny Padgitt managed to get himself paroled He returned to Ford County & the retribution began