When a series of package bombs show up on the doorsteps of prominent politicians and businessmen in the summer of 1919, U.S. Bureau of Investigation Agent William Flynn (Strathairn) is assigned the task of finding those responsible. He becomes immersed in an investigation that uncovers an anarchist plot to destroy democracy. Based on true events of the '20s the film sets the stage for a timely drama with resoundingly similar parallels to the contemporary war on terrorism and the role government plays to defeat it.