Michael Tyler's world was turned upside down when he was wrongfully convicted of the brutal slaying of a Montgomery, Alabama television news and feature reporter. The second-year law student is sentenced to death by electrocution, and he waits on Alabama's death row as his appeals begin their sluggish journey through the state and federal appellate system. He learns the harsh reality of life on The Row at the maximum prison facility in South Alabama where all executions are carried out. He is not deterred by the restrictive life on The Row and eventually earns his law degree and passes the bar exam. He sets out to overturn his own conviction while providing legal counsel to those who are destitute and are at the mercy of the system that has them marked for death. Meanwhile, a network of college alums are secretly working to help him avoid his date with the chair.