If a foreign government obliterated 465 acres in the middle of a major American city, causing the destruction of 144 local businesses, sixteen churches, two schools, and a hospital, it would mean war. Poletown tells what happened when these same actions were carried out by the City of Detroit and General Motors. Poletown is the story of the only group in Detroit to oppose the construction plan: the Poles and blacks who fought side by side to save their neighborhood, one of the city's oldest integrated communities.