Aretha Louise Franklin's relationship with her preacher father C.L. Franklin from a young girl through to adulthood, her marriage to her agent/husband Ted White, as well as her introduction to music producer Jerry Wexler are portrayed.

Aretha politely tells her father she doesn't need financial support, nor to sing at his engagements. Ted White and her father both try to usurp control over her which leaves Aretha with difficult but necessary choices she needs to make.

Aretha juggles her music career and her commitment to the civil rights movement; Little Re leaves behind her newborn child to return to the Gospel Circuit in 1955, meeting with music legends James Cleveland and Little Sammie Bryant.

Aretha is featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1968, but she's devastated when the article focuses on the scandalous details of her personal life; Barbara Franklin and Young C.L. Franklin struggle to establish themselves in Memphis.

Aretha records her album "Amazing Grace" in an older James Cleveland's church; while Little Re discovers that she's pregnant with her second child.

Aretha steals an opportunity from her sister Carolyn; she receives a Grammy nomination but is ultimately snubbed from winning the award; she meets with Arista founder Clive Davis; Jerry Wexler leaves Atlantic Records.

Despite significant emotional losses, Aretha pushes herself artistically and triumphs; she begins a career at Arista with the help of Clive Davis, and in a Grammy performance in 1998, she solidifies her eternal reign as the Queen of Soul.