An undercover reporter signs up to be a paid volunteer in a two-week scientific research project designed to test the psychological effects of prison life. Joining a group of 11 other volunteer "prisoners" in a makeshift prison, the inmates are monitored by eight volunteer "guards" and an elaborate system of surveillance cameras. Now, the watched and the watchers find themselves drawn into a twisted nightmare where vulnerability is weakness, power is intoxicating and the experiment becomes a terrifying reality that will change their lives forever.