A young woman agonizes over whether or not to have an abortion and learns that her mother did the same 20 years prior.

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1876. A secret society of Irish coal miners, bond by a sacred oath, put pressure on the greedy and ruthless company they work for by sabotaging mining facilities in the hope of improving their working conditions and the lives of their families.

Farm widow Sarah Bowman has been impoverished by the siphoning of her water supply. A nearby big-city aqueduct has priority over water rights, leaving the rural outskirts virtually dry. Attempting to bring her cause to the forefront, Sarah dynamites the reservoir, half-hoping that she'll be "martyred" in the process. When she fails to arouse public support, she targets the local power plant for her next blast. Assistant DA Anne Greyfeather, who as an orphaned Indian girl was virtually raised by Sarah, decides to challenge the water-department bureaucracy on McGuire's behalf.

A convicted con artist sets out to expose the head of a charity fund who has been embezzling money to cover his huge gambling losses.

A homicide detective goes after a woman-hating serial killer, who uses knives to murder his victims.