It's 1996, Bill Clinton has just been relected and in Houston a mayoral election is looming. As usual the campaign focuses on Pleasantville - the African-American neighbourhood of the city that has swung almost every race since it was founded to house a growing black middle class in 1949. Axel Hathorne, a former chief of police and the son of Pleasantville's founding father Sam Hathorne, was the clear favourite, all set to become Houston's first black...

In a crowded courtroom in Mississippi, a jury returns a shocking verdict against a chemical company. They have been accused of dumping toxic waste into a small town's water supply, causing the worst "cancer cluster" in history. The company appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court, whose nine justices will one day either approve the verdict or reverse it. But chemical company owner, Carl Trudeau, decides to try to purchase himself a seat on the Court....