Gospel Hill tells the intersecting story of two men in the fictional South Carolina town of Julia. Danny Glover plays John Malcolm, the son of a slain civil rights activist. Jack Herrod (Tom Bower) is the former sheriff who never got to the bottom of the murder. Their paths begin to cross when a development corporation comes to town with plans to raze Julia's historic Gospel Hill.
A single mother enters a dark lifestyle after facing economic difficulties. Meanwhile her eldest son has to take care of his younger brother because of the absence of their mother and gets into trouble with the town's feared bully, while trying to help to get some money to help his mother. Afterward, he uncovers a road leading to an underwater utopia.