In 1963 Texas, convicts Robert "Butch" Haynes and Terry Pugh escape from the Huntsville Unit. Fleeing, Pugh stumbles into a house where eight-year-old Phillip Perry lives with his devout Jehovah's Witness mother and two sisters. Butch follows, and hits Pugh to make him stop molesting the mother. Needing a hostage to aid their escape, Butch grabs the boy, who meekly accompanies them. The trio's journey soon hits an unpleasant note as Butch kills Terry, following the latter's attempt to harm the child. With his partner out of the way, the convict and his young victim take to the Texas highway in a bid to flee from the pursuing police.