In 1961 a group of NYC realist artists mounted a show of their work in the hope of changing the direction of the art world. They didn't succeed in their quest, but in the years leading up to that show, and in the decades following it, they pursued careers in realist art, compiling a substantial and impressive body of work while living through a number of unusual episodes connected with their interest in realist art. This documentary tells part of the story of their lives as artists, including a focus on their 1961 show as well as their connections with the politics of the times, the Montgomery bus boycott and the arrest of a Soviet spy in Brooklyn.