 Throughout the film, except during interview sequences, the band's music is heard in the background, sometimes with still photographs of the band and individual members seen onscreen.The film discusses the origin of the band at the Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi in 1937, interspersed with archival footage of life at the time for African Americans in the rural South.Band members discuss the early touring years of the group, designed to raise awareness and funds for the Piney Woods School.