Based on Jaime Lowe's New York Times Magazine article "The Incarcerated Women Who Fight California's Wildfires", the film is based on the true story of a dozen female prisoners as they move from county jail to life in a Malibu fire camp. With only three weeks of training, the diverse crew must bind together not only to fight devastating blazes, but also their own personal demons and a system that seeks to keep them invisible. It is a task they signed up for, and get paid $2 an hour to risk their lives.