Louis Carter Sr., a Black shoemaker recently released from prison, returns home determined to rebuild his family's business; one that was taken down by a competing white-owned shop and a system designed to keep him out. His first night returned home, he puts in motion his plan to place his Irish-immigrant cellmate and his white-passing family as the public face of Carter's Shoe Emporium.
As the business begins to thrive, Senior must confront the cost of his own invisibility; forcing those closest to him to navigate the shifting boundaries of race, loyalty and power in a country where whiteness can be learned, performed and rewarded.

Inspired by the text How the Irish Became White, You Can Tell a Tree by its Fruit is a drama about who gets to belong, who gets to rise, and what is sacrificed in pursuit of the American Dream.