After escaping from a Huntsville prison, convict Robert "Butch" Haynes (Kevin Costner) and his partner, Terry Pugh (Keith Szarabajka), kidnap a young boy named Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther), and flee across Texas. As they travel together, Butch and Phillip discover common bonds and suffer the abuses of the outside "Perfect World". In pursuit is Texas Ranger "Red" Garnett (Clint Eastwood) and criminologist Sally Gerber (Laura Dern).