A small community in rural Mississippi isn't the usual setting for a gruesome crime.

The local cops routinely make marijuana busts, break up dog fights, and occasionally haul a drunken husband in on a domestic abuse charge. But when Madison Levy, a beautiful young woman with a promising future, is set on fire and left for dead, the local authorities know they are out of their league and request help from the state police.

When even the FBI fails to make a timely arrest, her parents' hire the only man who can help: W.C. Fields. This local private detective has worked many cases, but he's never had a case like this. He quickly learns that rumors are cheap and everyone in town is selling. W.C. digs for the truth amid the fiction and what he finds isn't pretty: His picturesque town, on the surface full of Southern charm, is a hotbed of racism and deep hatred for anyone who doesn't follow the rules.

When all the evidence points to a local gang member, he does what any decent detective would do...

He turns the small Mississippi town upside down.