At the heart of this powerful documentary are excerpts of letters to family and friends from inmates - both first offenders and career criminals. Accompanied by a rock score and illustrated with dramatic scenes of life behind bars, the prisoners' eloquent and poignant words express loneliness, fear, and fleeting moments of hope. Two segments focus on youth and adults incarcerated as a result of their involvement with drugs or violence and gangs; the third examines the painful reality of what prison life is really like. Readers of excerpts include Peter Coyote, Danny Glover, Louis Gossett, Jr., and Kirstie Alley