PAUL’S PROMISE tells the story of a white fireman’s spiritual and social transformation, during the racial unrest of the 1960s, in the face of a difficult past. After getting terminal cancer, an outspoken widow named Minnie desires her son, Paul, will come to know the Lord. She asks him to read her personal prayer list in church. Paul at first finds her request irksome and annoying. However, his mother’s mortality, Paul’s deep need for a positive father figure, and his desire to confront the racial turmoil around him forces Paul to have a change of heart.