 In fall 1977, Mikal Gilmore (Giovanni Ribisi) and his older brother Frank, Jr. (Lee Tergesen) ride through the Salt Lake Valley in a Rolls-Royce driven by ACLU lawyer Richard Giaque (Terry Beaver). They are on their way to Utah s Draper Prison for a "one-time-only" visit with their notorious brother Gary (Elias Koteas), a death-row inmate set to be executed in a few days. Convicted a year earlier of the brutal murders of two Mormon men, Gary has been sentenced to death in the wake of the Supreme Court s decision to reinstate capital punishment. Since he stands to become the first American in more than a decade to be executed, Gary has become the subject of enormous national attention, and his request to die stuns his ailing mother Bessie (Amy Madigan) and confuses his brothers. Mikal and Frank hope to meet with Gary, change his mind, and get papers signed that will stay the execution.