Already the gateway for illegal Canadian liquor during Prohibition, the Motor City becomes a crucible for American class conflict during the Great Depression, with an army of laid off Ford workers drifting into the ranks of the burgeoning union movement—Henry Ford's worst nightmare. To keep the hundreds of thousands still employed by him in thrall, the man who was formerly 'America's favorite tycoon' recruits black laborers migrating from the deep South to serve as 'strike insurance', and gives Harry Bennett free reign over the legion of brawlers and ex-cons who make up the company's 'Security Department'.

The Model T mogul has also bought a chunk of Brazil's Amazonian rainforest, vowing to grow his own rubber for tires, but refusing to include a botanist in his troop of would-be jungle tamers. As a series of biological plagues descend on the Fordlandia plantation, the racial melting pot he has created in Detroit begins to boil over, and not even the Sage of Dearborn can control the forces that have been unleashed. The novel's cast—Ford workers black and white and their families, young radicals, cynical newsmen, gangsters, Brazilian rubber tappers, cameos from boxer Joe Louis and muralist Diego Rivera—create the tapestry of differing points of view that John Sayles has become famous for, the events portrayed fundamental to the country we live in today.