Mary Bethune arrives at James Gamble’s oceanfront estate in Daytona with her son, Albert. Awed by the luxury and conscious of her fashionable but ill-fitting gown, Mary steps inside, where a young maid quietly asks for her autograph and expresses hope of attending Bethune-Cookman. Mary agrees discreetly, mindful of the risks the maid faces.

In a glittering parlor, Gamble greets Mary as the “woman of the hour.” He introduces her and Albert to Thomas Edison, who notes Gamble has spoken of her for years. Mayor Edward Armstrong joins, and Mary reflects on his cooperation in improving services in Black neighborhoods. As conversation turns to aviation, Albert steps outside; Mary worries he might stray onto the “Whites Only” beach, a reminder of her limited power in a Jim Crow city.

Gamble calls the room to attention and recounts meeting Mary two decades earlier, selling pies outside Henry Flagler’s resort and speaking with passionate, wide-ranging intelligence. After she invited him to join her school’s board, he visited and found only a shack on “Hell’s Hole,” yet Mary’s apology and clear vision moved him to write a check and become her first board member.

Gamble praises Mary’s relentless will and highlights the school’s growth and the later creation of McLeod Hospital, which Mary pursued after the local hospital refused a student because she was Black; it also became a training site for nursing students. He toasts Mary. Emotioned, Mary declines to elaborate, then toasts Gamble and their transformative partnership as Albert looks on with pride.