 Boston auto mechanic Frank Gibson and his fiancée Janet Atkinson are planning to get married - until Janet is killed by a drunk driver, and Frank retaliates by killing the drunk driver. As a result, Frank is sentenced to spend 3 years in a minimum security prison. While in prison, Frank witnesses two corrupt guards, Pappas and Watters, murdering inmate Harvey Elkins, and when Frank escapes from prison, Pappas and Watters tell the warden, Jackson, that it was Frank who killed Harvey. Faced with having to prove his innocence, Frank sneaks a ride to Albany, New York, where as he tries to prove his innocence, he makes some shocking discoveries.