Donny Tison James Spader is a pre-law student, deeply committed to a loving relationship with his high school sweetheart, Carol Catherine Mary Stewart. He is the most steady of Gary Tison’s three sons, but his brothers—Ray [Lance Kerwin], a hard-working farm laborer, and Ricky [Eric Stoltz], who spends his days drifting—grow restless and become convinced that their father must be freed from prison. Donny, torn by duty and family, privately threatens to turn them in to the police even as he weighs the risky path they’re about to undertake. Yet, seeing their resolve, he ultimately agrees to join the plan, convinced that Gary cannot be broken out without his help.
The trio drives to the prison under a tense, escalating mood, with Donny and Ricky using their weapons to keep everyone hostage while Ray orchestrates the breakout by freeing Gary Tison [Robert Mitchum] and his cellmate, Randy Greenawalt [Stuart Margolin]. Once outside, they seize a car and vanish into the Arizona landscape as a nationwide police alert declares them armed and dangerous. Donny’s initial skepticism gives way to a grim realization that the pursuit will not be easy, and the fugitive run tests the family’s loyalties and their capacity for violence.
After a period on the run, Gary decides to change cars to elude capture. He hijacks another vehicle, forcing the occupants to step out, including John Lyons [Arliss Howard], his wife Dannelda Lyons [Amanda Wyss], their young niece Teresa [Susan Swift], and their baby. Donny tries to calm the terrified family by promising they will be unharmed, but Gary’s paranoia and ruthlessness take over. He shoots John and Dannelda, then kills Teresa and the infant, an atrocity that shocks Donny and Ricky to their core and makes them confront the possibility that their father is not the benevolent figure they believed him to be.
The next morning, a debate in a gas station shop sees Ray proposing that they turn themselves in, arguing they were not involved in the killings. Donny silences him, insisting that Gary will never let them go, and the siblings reluctantly return to their father, seeking refuge with a female friend of Randy. The authorities gain a break when a gas station attendant recognizes the gang from the papers, prompting a wider manhunt that edges them toward the U.S.–Mexico border.
As the chase culminates, the police ambush the fugitives. Donny is fatally shot, while his brothers are captured and condemned to death row. Gary manages to escape the immediate scene, but his body is found eleven days later, leaving the family tragedy to linger in the memory of a manhunt that began with a desperate bid for freedom and ended in a grim reckoning.
