Set in the sweltering heat of a Texas summer in 1974, as head of the Texas Department of Corrections, Jim Estelle, plays a deadly game against the ruthless Federico Carrasco, a convicted heroin dealer who has taken over the Huntsville Penitentiary and holding dozens hostage after his pre-planned escape has gone awry. Lines between captor and captive, justice and survival, begin to blur as the siege spirals for 11 endless, terrifying days.