Inspired by a Woody Guthrie song, 1913 Massacre tells the story of a Michigan town broken by greed. The film follows musician Arlo Guthrie to the town of Calumet, a once-thriving mining town on Michigan's Upper Peninsula still haunted by the tragic events that inspired Woody Guthrie's ballad, '1913 Massacre.' 1913 Massacre captures the last living witnesses of the 1913 tragedy, reconstructs Calumet's past from individual memories, family legends and songs, and traces the legacy of the tragedy to the present day, when the town --out of work, out of money, out of luck -- struggles to survive.