Women washing cloth with lye accident 19 th century

It’s 1882 and the Gilded Age is in full swing when Marian Brook, a young orphaned daughter of a Southern general, moves in with her rigidly conventional aunts in New York City. With the help of Peggy Scott, an African-American woman masquerading as her maid, Marian gets caught up in the dazzling lives of her rich neighbors as she struggles to decide between adhering to the rules or forging her own path.

The story of Belle Brezing, the Lexington Madam who ran a Victorian era brothel, is explored. The film details Brezing's journey from hardscrabble youth to the Baroness of the Brothel, while becoming the nearly undeniable inspiration for Belle Watling from "Gone with the Wind."

Women washing clothes.

Women wash clothes in a washhouse on the edge of a river.