A small-time union member trades his integrity for power within the organization.

At the beginning of the labor movement in 1930s America, Johnny Kovak unloads trucks for Win Talbot's company, and begins to organize the truckers for a union rep named Mick Monahan. After Monahan is killed in a fight instigated by the company, Johnny gets involved with gangster Vince Doyle. The relationship between Talbot's company and the workers worsens, ultimately resulting in a huge riot. When Johnny sides with Doyle, organized crime gets more control in the union, and he and the mob get rich and powerful. By the end of the 1950s, Johnny is so powerful that he blackmails international union leader Max Graham and takes his job. But Johnny's position is put in jeapordy when Senator Andrew Madison makes his union the subject of a federal investigation.