Lara Brennan (Elizabeth Banks) is convicted of murdering her boss and is sentenced to life in prison. The evidence seems impossible to dispute: many colleagues saw her having a quarrel with the victim, their cars are parked right next to each other, she is seen leaving the crime scene seconds before the body is discovered, the murder weapon (a fire extinguisher) has her fingerprints on it and she has the victim's blood on the back of her overcoat. Following the failure of her appeal, her son Luke ceases to acknowledge her during prison visits. One day, Lara attempts suicide, unwilling to spend the rest of her life in prison. Her husband John Brennan (Russell Crowe), a professor at a community college, becomes obsessed with the idea of breaking her out of jail.