Ex-con James Allen, aka Animal (Ving Rhames), has done the near-impossible: He's reformed himself while in maximum security prison, with the help of an inmate (Jim Brown). But when he's released and discovers that his son (Terrence Howard) has strayed off the straight-and-narrow, James must dig deep into the "animal" within to save his child, who seems to have lost himself in a criminal underworld set on seducing James once again.