Hellgate Prison is an aptly named facility in the desert where the worst criminals are sent. Hanley, a veterinarian and former Civil War soldier, is falsely accused and convicted of a crime. He is sentenced to this hellish place.
He immediately gets on the wrong side of Voorhees, a vicious guard, and Redfield, a mean convict. Hanley will need to fight his way out, particularly when the prisoners are afflicted with an epidemic of a spreading plague.