In 1935, 99-year-old former slave Shadrach asks to be buried on the soil where he was born to slavery, and that land is owned by the large Dabney family, consisting of Vernon, Trixie and their seven children, and to bury a black man on that land is a violation of strict Virginia law.

A kind nurse finds herself embroiled in a tense and potentially deadly family affair when she falls for the son of her ruthless new husband.

Sarah and Harriet have been best friends since childhood. They married at the same time, had children within the same year and now find themselves facing uncertain futures after the sudden deaths of their husbands. Though they have much in common, Sarah is a relaxed nature lover, while Harriet is intense and set in her ways. Sarah has been able to move on with her life with the help of her mother, her maid Katie and Will, the new man in her life. Harriet is unable to cope with her loss and her relationship with her daughter Pammy is strained. When Harriet is diagnosed with a serious illness, she and Sarah learn a lesson about love and friendship.

SHIFT tells the story of the volatile relationship between Melanie, a waitress in an airport coffee shop, and Louis, a telemarketing prison inmate in a new prison labor program. Stars Chris Meloni (Oz, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit), Alethea Allen and Eric Thal (A Stranger Among Us, The Wedding). Funded by the Independent Television Service for public television.