When an English teacher at Attica State Prison asks his incarcerated students to write about why they're in prison, he is astounded by the story of Charles Schine. Schine is a white, upper middle-class ad exec who meets Lucinda, a married woman, on the Long Island Railroad. Sharing pictures of their kids soon leads to a rendezvous in a sordid downtown hotel. But before they actually enter the room, they are held up by a man who rapes Lucinda, assaults Charles, and steals both their wallets. He then proceeds to blackmail them. Desperate, Charles hires someone to eliminate him -- but it's the hit man who ends up dead. In a world where no one is who they seem to be, Charles sinks deeper into a labyrinth of deceit, murder, and betrayal, it's clear why Charles is in Attica -- and what he's come to do there.