Bank robber Graham Dorsey spends a few hours with beautiful widow Amanda Starbuck, in which time his gang takes part in a disastrous holdup. Learning of his comrades' demise, Dorsey goes on the lam. Believing her short-term lover was killed by the law, Amanda decides to make the most of having had a liaison with the supposedly deceased desperado by writing a book about him. Much to his confusion, the still-living Dorsey watches as his name becomes legendary.

In the 1950s, a poor Georgia cotton farmer and his sons search for the gold presumably buried on the farm by their grandfather but problems related to poverty, marital infidelity, unemployment and booze threaten to destroy their family.

City police surround a building, attempting to capture a suspected murderer. The suspect knows there is no escape but refuses to give in.

Alcoholic detective investigating the murder of an actress starts getting worried when all fingers begin to point at him.

An African-American political activist is wrongfully imprisoned for killing two white policemen; he is unwary of yet another white lawyer who claims that he will help free him.

A scientist creates Proteus, an organic supercomputer with artificial intelligence which becomes obsessed with human beings, and in particular the creator's wife.

A hit man and his partner try to find out why their latest victim, a former race-car driver, did not try to get away.

When she was raped, Ellen thought it was the worst thing to ever happen to her. What was worse, was the treatment by the hospital staff, police and the court system, when she reported it, and the man was caught.

An attorney defends a hoodlum of murder, using the oppressiveness of the slums to appeal to the court.

An all-black inner city school has to become an integrated school. Few dozen white kids are transfered there, but the black students are aggressively opposed to this. The school then approaches a tough black teacher for help.