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Phoenix, Arizona. Home to America’s most notorious sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Serving time in Maricopa County is brutal. Inmates do their time outside in military surplus tents, 365 days a year. And the sheriff’s taken away all privileges: no television, no coffee, no cigarettes...He’s even put women on a chain gang to teach them discipline and deter crime. Some women volunteer, some join to avoid punishment, but all fifteen women commit to 30 days of hard labor chained together in the public eye.

With Thanksgiving just a couple of weeks away, this group of chain gang girls face the reality of being away from their families during the holidays. As emotions run high, the women struggle to stay out of trouble. But along the way, fights break out, secrets are revealed, and rules get broken. Chain gang girls, Lori Henderson and Desma Barber fight over a shared history: Desma’s mother slept with Lori’s under-aged son. While Lexi Farrar, a married mother of one, reveals she’s a lesbian whose been hiding her sexuality because of her faith. And the entire chain gets in trouble for cell graffiti.

Each inmate struggles to make it through the 30 days, but sometimes the odds against them are too high…Officers grow increasing frustrated with this group of chain gang girls who fail to meet their strict military standards. Cracking down, the officers kick off the weakest link, Anastacia Villafan, and threaten to replace the entire chain if they don’t get their marching in shape over the four-day Thanksgiving holiday.

Chain Leader Kylie Marks kicks marching practice into high gear. But their time is limited; the women must spend the majority of the Thanksgiving break trapped in their tiny cells. And after nearly 100 hours behind bars, boredom and monotony get the best of Kylie Marks and Brittany Way. The young inmates commit a serious jail offense and give themselves racially loaded tattoos: four dots symbolizing “white power.”

News of the tattoo reaches officers who immediately confront Brittany. Though Brittany admits to the offense, she hides Kylie’s involvement, adhering to the jailhouse code against snitching. Brittany’s gesture allows Kylie to maintain her release date. The entire chain gang’s placed their hopes in their leader Kylie’s success on the outside where she will enroll in a halfway house drug treatment program. But when Kylie finally graduates the chain gang and is released, she must wait overnight before she can move in to the halfway house.

Unsupervised, Kylie immediately relapses, has a run in with the police, and ends up back in jail. Officers use Kylie’s re-arrest as a wake-up call for the chain gang girls. Devastated, the women renew their commitment to learning discipline from the chain gang experience, hoping they will have a different experience when they face freedom.