Eddie Macon will do anything for and to be with his wife and young son, Chris and Bobby. It is for Bobby that they moved from Florida to Texas, one injustice after another which lands Eddie behind bars at Huntsville ultimately on a twenty year sentence. With Chris' help, Eddie plots to break out of prison, the plan to make his way on foot, traveling solely at night, to Laredo where he will cross the border into Mexico to meet Chris and Bobby, he and Chris figuring that he is not important enough for the Mexican authorities to bother sending him back if he is ever caught south of the border. While the good ol' boys within the Texas penal system send out the blood hounds to search for Eddie, Carl Marzack with the prisoner transfer office decides to search for Eddie on his own largely to settle an old score. While Marzack's colleagues' method is to chase, Marzack is more methodical, believing he just needs to follow the crumbs ultimately with Eddie showing himself in the process. There are a few hiccups along the way, some that help Eddie and some that help Marzack. What may trump all is something stronger within Marzack, namely to show that he is smarter than the rest.