Ten-year-old Finnegan "Finn" Bell, an orphan being raised by his elder sister Maggie and her boyfriend Joe, is playing on a beach in the Gulf Coast when an escaped convict suddenly pops out of the water and overpowers him. He makes Finn promise to bring back food, medicine and bolt cutters to get the iron shackles off his leg. Finn complies, but the convict takes him as a hostage and tries to escape by boat to Mexico. The police seize the small boat heading out to sea. The convict hides on a buoy and the police tow Finn back to land. The next day, Finn sees on the news that the convict was a mobster named Arthur Lustig who had escaped from death row, but has now been recaptured.