The Harlem of this socially conscious melodrama, written by Ulmer's wife Sherle Castle and performed by an all-black cast, is not unlike the Jewish communities of Ulmer's Yiddish films: an insular world torn between familiar ways and the desire for change. On the side of the status quo are long-suffering maid Minnie and her new husband, gangster Dollar Bill (bonus for jazz fans: clarinetist Sidney Bechet plays at their wedding). Bill spends his wife's insurance money on horses and women and lusts after his stepdaughter Sue, declaring, “When I moves in on a deal, I moves in.” Meanwhile, Sue's forward-thinking boyfriend Bob struggles to free the neighborhood from the grip of racketeers like Bill, saying Harlem is “screaming for leadership.” The film was shot in just four days; Ulmer said, “It was one of the most pitiful things I ever did. It was done on nothing....But we made quite a good picture.”