 Fact-based story about the corruption that occurred during the United Mine Workers  1969 presidential elections. Jock Yablonski (Charles Bronson) was a loyal follower of then chief Tony Boyle (Wilford Brimley). That all changed after 80 men are killed in an unsafe West Virginia coal mine and Boyle defended the mine owners. At his wife s (Ellen Burstyn) urging and in fear of his life, Yablonski launched his campaign. And in fact, he became the target of assassins.