This film depicts the coal miners' strike against the Eastover Mining Company's Brookside Mine in Harlan County, Kentucky, in June 1973. Eastover's refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined the United Mine Workers of America) resulted in a year-long strike that included violent clashes between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike in context by providing background on the miners' historical plight as well as the UMWA's history.