 It s a drama about theatre life in the 1930s during the times of the Great Depression, the Red Scare (communism), facism, unions, Hitler, Mussolini, New York mayor Nelson Rockefeller, director Orson Welles, painter Diego Rivera, and William Randolph Hearst. This film focuses on the lives of several people during hard times in New York as many struggle to find their place in America. The main focus of the film is a play entitled "Cradle Will Rock," which tells a pro-union story about lower class workers trying to survive in a growing power-hungry world.