When police discover three 8-year-old boys murdered, mutilated and hogtied in a watery ditch in West Memphis, Ark., the police suspect three teenagers they believe have ties to satanism; soon, locals come forward with startling information.
When Jessie Misskelley confesses to the murder of three young boys, he and his friends are arrested, sending West Memphis into a frenzy; the misfit teens are put on trial and their alleged satanic beliefs are at the heart of the prosecution's case.