Plot

A former Marine grapples his way through a web of small-town corruption when an attempt to post bail for his cousin escalates into a violent standoff with the local police chief.

An ex Marine on his way to bail out his cousin from jail finds himself pushed against the wall by a high handed and corrupt chief of police. He then has no option but to confront the cop and despite strong resistance he fights his way out to complete his mission.—Madan Marwah

Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre), a African American Marine Corps veteran, cycles into the town of Shelby Springs, Louisiana to post bail for his cousin Mike Simmons (CJ LeBlanc) and buy a pickup truck so they can make an honest living.

Terry is rammed and detained by two police officers, Evan Marston (David Denman) and Steve Lann (Emory Cohen), who seize his $36,000 via civil forfeiture, despite the money being legitimate. $10,000 is for bail and the rest is for the truck. Terry needed to be at the courthouse before 5 PM, else Mike would be sent to prison. Evan and Steve confiscate the money on suspicion of it being drug money. They say that Mike is being convicted of possession, so it is possible that after bailing him out, Terry and Mike will simply buy more drugs.

Terry says that the cash is legitimate as he sold his car to get the money. He claims that he sold the car to his business partner who runs a Chinese restaurant. Evan and Steve say that if Terry fights for the money in court, he can be arrested and put in jail. If he decides not to fight the charges, then he will be left alone.

The courthouse clerk, Elliot (Steve Zissis), refuses to help Terry. It was already 5 PM and Elliot says that he cannot do anything to help Terry get the money back from cops, or release Mike without bail being posted. Another employee, Summer McBride (AnnaSophia Robb), promises to prepare the forms in case Terry can get the required $10,000 before Mike's Thursday transfer (it is Friday) to state prison where he would be in danger for informing on a gangster. Summer says that Civil Asset Forfeiture was a law designed to fight the cartels and the money is used by the police chief as discretionary funds. Summer says that Terry can fight for the money, but it will take a year and cost twice as much as is owed. Terry calls his business partner Liu, who agrees to send him $10,000 vie money orders.

Terry goes to the police station and tries to report the cash as stolen to Officer Jessica Sims (Zsane Jhe). He is confronted by Lann and police chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson). Terry shows the receipt of the car sale to Burnne, who takes a photocopy of the same. Terry offers to drop the matter if he gets $10,000 back for bail and is told to return and resolve the issue on Monday. Terry has no money and no place to stay, so he stays in the woods surrounding the town.

On Monday, Terry arrives at the station but is told that the bus transferring Mike has just left. He catches up to the prison transfer bus on his bike and tells Mike to stay safe until he posts bail. Terry calls his former business partner Liu (Dana Lee) but is informed that he can no longer send money because police raided his restaurant. Liu says that Terry implicated him in a statement that he gave to the Shelby Springs police and now he is being investigated for running a drug business, his safe is confiscated and he can no longer meet payroll for the week.

Terry meets Summer who says that she found several cases where misdemeanors were held in custody for a long period of time, which is unusual as the town is broke. Summer says that she will have the bail paperwork ready if Terry can bring in the cash.

Terry returns to the station and repeats his offer, but Burnne refuses despite saying it was reasonable. A close quarter combat expert, he subdues Lann and Burnne, and forces Sims to hand over the bail money and help him escape. While inside the station he sees a large amount of cash, and an armory stock full of non-lethal weapons. Terry manages to post bail with Summer's help but is detained. Terry is stung by a taser gun even though he was surrendering voluntarily and offered no resistance.

Terry is kept in a storage room that was full of mold. He is taken to a hospital by Marston and Burnne after a medical check-up. Burnne admits that the money they get from such arrests is their operating budget for the next 2 months. Burnne says that they rent out the armory to other police departments, who are also reeling from budget cuts. The chief tells him that Mike was stabbed after processing and offers the remaining $26,000, the truck he was going to buy, and to not pursue charges if he leaves town. Terry accepts and is informed by hospital staff that Mike died. Despite getting the deal from Burnne, Terry knows that Burnne is not going to let him just walk away.

While getting a ride out of town that evening from Summer, Terry declines to help her investigate cases of people being held in jail for 90 days over misdemeanors. Summer says that there are dozens of such cases and in the end they all were released after 90 days in jail.

That night, after picking up the truck, Terry receives a call from Summer, who was injected with drugs by police, and returns to help. The next morning, she must take a urine test after the court is informed about her drug use, which jeopardizes her child custody. It is clear that Summer is being set up for helping Terry.

As Terry leaves town, Lann flags him down and says that Terry broke the deal by returning to town. As Lann drove up, the sirens on his cop car went off, and he tells Terry that when the sirens go off, the Dashcam starts recording automatically. Lann throws a gun into his car and shoots him. Terry escapes and gets a call from Summer, who is also being warned by the police to leave town. Terry regroups with Summer at Liu's restaurant, where Liu, a Chinese medic during the Korean War, patches him up. Terry gives the money to Liu for payroll.

That night, Summer and Terry interrogate Elliot and the judge (James Cromwell), who reveal a cover-up to avoid transparency measures imposed after a legal settlement nearly bankrupted the town. Burnne resorted to civil forfeitures to keep the police department solvent. Summer does not reveal her source at the police station and Terry code names him/her Serpico. People are held for 90 days on misdemeanors, so they are unable to get public defenders to seek production of their police Dashcam arrest footage before the data retention period expires. If the data is not subpoenaed for 90 days, it is automatically deleted. The Dashcam data is stored at the courthouse, which was part of the legal settlement. The judge reveals that there was enough on Mike's Dashcam recording to get the town sued again. Terry and Summer break into the courthouse basement and retrieve the SD cards as police arrive and start a fire. He escapes, but she is captured trying to destroy her urine sample.

Terry and Lann arrange a swap: Summer for the cards at Rebel Ridge the following morning. While Lann and an armed police contingent wait at the exchange site, Terry breaks into the police station using the truck and subdues Burnne. He gives Sims a loaded gun believing that she is "Serpico" (the officer who provided information to Summer). But Sims detains Terry as the cops return.

Lann destroys the cards and reveals that Summer is at risk of overdosing. Marston protests, which makes Terry realize that he is actually "Serpico." Marston is shot in the femoral by Burnne and starts bleeding out. Burnne tells the cops to kill Terry and pin Marston's death on him, but Terry defeats the officers who approach him, including Lann. Terry takes Marston to safety behind a cop car.

Marston tells Terry to activate a police cruiser siren, saving the previous three minutes of dash-cam footage, and walks Terry through administering Narcan on Summer. The three flee in the cruiser with police in pursuit. When ordered to do a PIT maneuver, Sims takes out Burnne's vehicle instead and detains him. The remaining cops escort them to the hospital and report that state police are incoming. Marston and Summer are admitted, after which Terry secures the incriminating Dashcam footage and sits in a hallway.