A young man is sentenced to prison for a term of eight years, yet he's allowed out if he promises not to get married for those eight years, lest he be forced to complete his sentence behind bars. He goes to live on an old ship in the harbor with an old sea captain. One day a homeless girl is fished out of the water and brought to live on the boat, soon marrying the young man. All is well until his parole officer finds out.
Janet Holman is suspicious of her fiancé, Allen Wells, after he kisses her best friend Gwen when the lights are turned out during a party. Allen leaves early, purportedly for business reasons, but in reality, he is going to visit his secret girl friend, seventeen-year-old Ruth Jarrett. When Ruth's neighbor and landlady, Mrs. Humphries, overhears her talking to Allen on the phone, she becomes morally outraged and calls the police. Ruth is taken away to juvenile hall, and when Ruth's older brother Nick comes home to celebrate Ruth's birthday, Mrs. Humphries explains that Ruth has been seeing an older, wealthy man who has been leading her astray, and that she sent her away for her own good. Nick is saddened that he has failed to keep Ruth on the right track, and when he returns to his apartment, he becomes enraged to see Allen there. When Allen claims ignorance of Ruth's age, Nick hits him, and they engage in a brawl.
A conscientious attorney who is a member of the State Parole Board, finds his own son, using an alias, up for parole and makes the decision to cast the approving vote.
Story of a tuna fisherman who has been wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not commit. His exemplary behavior in prison ensures that he is up for early parole. He realizes, however, that his movements will be limited, and he will be unable to join and wed his beloved. The only solution is to escape and hunt down the real killer, himself.
A gangster is unable to go straight after returning home from prison.
Larry Nelson, paroled from prison after serving nearly half of his thirty-year sentence, is determined to not fall into the clutches of the law again, and takes a quiet job at a country sanitarium. Thete, he meets and falls for a nurse, Charlotte Maynard, and he knows the only way to enter her web is to have a lot of money, for Miss Maynard is somewhat of a gold-digger.
Ann Martin is serving time as a jewel thief. Paroled and determined to stay clean, she quickly finds out that her freedom was bought by an old, vicious boss that has picked her for a job.
An imprisoned gunfighter must scatter to elude the authorities. Outlaws Bob Ford (Robert Vaughn) and Vic Rodell (Stephen McNally) are nabbed, but the governor offers them amnesty in exchange for their help in bringing Jesse and his brother Frank (Douglas Kennedy) to justice. Peggie Castle and Barton MacLane also star in this tale of the Old West's most famous traitor.
Framed by her stepmother for manslaughter, a convict turns to a parole racket.
A New York City probation officer, noted for his sympathy with delinquents, put to a severe test when his daughter falls for a boy whom circumstances force into breaking the law.
Henry Thomas tries to overcome the horrors of his childhood and start a new life with his wife and kid. However, his abusive step-mother and his dependence on alcohol threaten to ruin his future.
A young man gets in over his head when he convinces a small-town girl he's a secret agent.
Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.
A female photographer teams up with a policeman to try to bring down a corrupt police officer who framed her for drug possession and during her investigation, finds that not everything, or everyone, is what they appear to be.
Two con artists hire an unwitting medical-school student (Kate Beckinsale) as a secretary for their latest scam.
Ten years after being molested in art school by habitual rapist Theodore Gray, who is serving 25 years but eligible for parole, Sarah Reynolds leads a happy life in a gallery and with her handsome husband, lawyer Michael Reynolds, and helps police detective Nick Sousa, who put Grat away, as sketch-artist. Then new cases following Gray's MO occur, and a victim who got away gives a description Sara hesitates to confide to paper: it fits Michael scarily. She turns it in, yet once he's behind bars searches in and is blackmailed to plead Gray's paroling or his crime cahoots will torture Michael to death.
When Arturo was jailed because of drug trafficking, Eva shouldered all the responsibilities in raising their daughter, Belinda. Trying all the possible jobs, she sells her self to men in order for them to survive. Due to hopelessness, Eva decides to go to the province, meeting Morelos, a man who introduced her the meaning of undying love and true essence of a family even offering her marriage. Ten years later, Arturo got his parole. He returned to the place where he left Eva and his daughter hoping to find his loved ones, a shocking truth unlocks the reality.
A deadly car accident brings together a group of previously unrelated people, each of whom is forced to deal with the emotional fallout.
Ex Con Armstrong Cane (Ving Rhames) returns to home a changed man looking to take over his father's old church and congregation. The neighborhood though is full of drugs and gangs. Those who are able are leaving for more prosperous areas and falling in with a slick preacher (Ricardo Chivara). Even with a dangerous gang leader (Dean McDermott) threatening his flock, Armstrong won't give up.
Parole officer Jack Mabry has only a few weeks left before retirement and wishes to finish out the cases he's been assigned. One such case is that of Gerald 'Stone' Creeson, a convicted arsonist who is up for parole. Jack is initially reluctant to indulge Stone in the coarse banter he wishes to pursue and feels little sympathy for the prisoner's pleads for an early release. Seeing little hope in convincing Jack himself, Stone arranges for his wife to seduce the officer, but motives and intentions steadily blur amidst the passions and buried secrets of the corrupted players in this deadly game of deception.