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Trial by Fire

On December 23, 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham awakes to find his house ablaze. Despite his best efforts, Willingham is unable to save the lives of his three daughters.

At his trial, the prosecutor, John Jackson, reveals the fire had been caused deliberately, with gasoline spread in the shape of a pentagram and the refrigerator moved to block the kitchen door. Several witnesses portray Willingham as a violent individual. His former cellmate from when he was detained in jail, Johnny Webb, testifies that Willingham had told him the fire had been set deliberately. Despite Willingham and his wife Stacy protesting his innocence, he is sentenced to death.

During his time on death row, Willingham is violently beaten and threatened by both inmates and guards before being placed in solitary confinement for his safety. There he breaks down, still protesting his innocence and having flashbacks to his life with Stacy.

Willingham and Stacy are shown to have had a complicated relationship: she cheated on him, and he reacted violently toward her. But the two care for each other. Stacy stops replying to his letters at the insistence of her grandmother, who believes he is guilty.

Willingham reaches out to a new lawyer, Reaves, in the hope of proving his innocence. He adapts to his life in prison by submitting to the violent guard Daniels and befriending fellow death row inmate, Ponchai James. During this time, Willingham improves his vocabulary and writing with James' help. The latter man is eventually executed.

Willingham’s letter to Reaves ultimately reaches playwright Elizabeth Gilbert, who is sympathetic to his case. Her ailing ex-husband and their two children insist he is guilty. When Gilbert visits the prison, she is taken aback by his calm demeanor. The pair connect over their mutual struggles as parents and their love for their respective children.

Willingham continues to immerse himself in art and poetry and befriends the guard Daniels. The guard starts to question Willingham's guilt after seeing him hallucinate about his daughters and reading his letters to Gilbert.

Gilbert questions the witness statements and Reaves, who made no progress on the case in six years. She visits Webb, the former cellmate. When she questions him about prosecutor John Jackson paying him to lie about Willingham’s confession, he becomes agitated and threatens her.

Willingham’s execution date is set, but she learns that more of the witnesses lied at the trial. Gilbert and Reaves meet with Dr. Hurst, who reveals the refrigerator had not been moved and that the fire could not have been arson, as the jury had been told and concluded. Despite this, Reaves is unable to argue an appeal, and Hurst’s report is disregarded.

Webb recants his testimony, but Jackson covers this up. Stacy is pressured into lying that Willingham had confessed to her.

Gilbert suffers a car crash as Willingham is taken to be executed. She is absent when he gives a poignant speech that shows the improvements he has made while on death row. He asks for his ashes to be spread over his daughters' graves.

Daniels is selected to administer the lethal injection. Along with Stacy and Reaves, he tearfully watches Willingham die. Later, Gilbert, who was paralyzed from the crash, spreads Willingham’s ashes, attended by her own children present.

In an epilogue and news footage, Texas Governor Rick Perry denies any guilt over ordering execution of inmates sentenced to death.