Based on real events and set in a small Texas town in the midst of the 2000 Bush/Gore Presidential election, American Violet tells the astonishing story of Dee Roberts (Beharie), a 24 year old single mother of four who is wrongfully swept up and arrested in a drug raid along with 28 others. Despite the urgings of her mother (Woodard), and with her freedom and the custody of her children at stake, she chooses to fight the powerful district attorney (O’Keefe) and the unyielding criminal justice system he represents. Joined in an unlikely alliance with an ACLU attorney (Nelson) and former local narcotics officer (Patton), Dee risks everything in a battle that forever changes her life, and ultimately the Texas justice system.