In 1972 Mi'kmaq Annie Mae Pictou Aquash answers a call by the American Indian Movement (AIM) to go to Washington to force the government to honor its treaty obligations with Indigenous people. Tensions rise, and the activists make a disturbing discovery.

Annie Mae risks her life to join a dangerous occupation in South Dakota. The Movement is embraced by Hollywood, the government secretly infiltrates AIM at the highest levels, and Annie Mae makes a dangerous decision in her personal life.

A clash between the FBI and AIM proves deadly. Annie Mae makes a secret pact with a close friend before going on the run with a group of fugitives, and then disappears. A body is discovered a short while later in the Badlands.

After a strange incident, the first Indigenous U.S. Marshall investigates Annie Mae's fate. Evidence leads to three surprising names. Investigators struggle to find enough evidence to go to trial but then someone comes forward and agrees to wear a wire.