Ten-year-old Finnegan "Finn" Bell, an orphan being raised by his elder sister Maggie and her boyfriend Joe, is playing on a beach in the Gulf Coast when an escaped convict overpowers him. Finn must promise to bring back food, medicine and bolt cutters to get the iron shackles off his leg. Finn complies, but is taken hostage and the convict tries to escape to Mexico but the police seize his small boat. The convict hides on a buoy and the police tow Finn back to land. The next day, Finn sees on the news that the convict was a mobster named Arthur Lustig who had escaped from death row, but has now been recaptured.