Alice Paul returns to New Jersey after several years on the front lines of the suffrage movement in Great Britain, determined to invigorate the stagnant suffrage movement in her homeland. Nine states have already granted women voting rights, but only a constitutional amendment will secure the vote for all. She organizes a procession down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, the day before the inauguration of President-elect Woodrow Wilson, a firm antisuffragist. Joining the march is Maud Malone, librarian and advocate for women's and workers' rights. Civil rights activist and journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett resolves that women of color must also be included in the march-- and the proposed amendment. On March 3, 1913 the march commences, but police allow crowds of belligerent men to block the parade route, assaulting the marchers and endangering not only the success of the demonstration but the women's very lives. -- adapted from jacket