In 2022, the penal system is run by corporations, and prisoners are seen as assets. Highly-trained ex-Marine John Robbins is imprisoned for life for murdering his commanding officer after being ordered to kill innocent civilians in Benghazi; having escaped from two Level 5 maximum security prisons, he is sent to a Level 6 facility. A fellow prisoner tells him about "Absolom", an island where they send the worst prisoners and is feared more than the prison. The Warden, after being held at gunpoint by Robbins, is convinced that he is a threat and exiles him to the island.

On the island, Robbins is captured by a group of prisoners known as the Outsiders, led by a sociopath named Walter Marek and whose only rule is The Law of the Jungle. The abandoned island resort, complete with dilapidated houses and a swimming pool, is where the Outsiders have established a base. Marek forces Robbins to fight one of his men for amusement and is impressed when Robbins kills his opponent in seconds. He offers him a position in his gang; instead, Robbins knocks Marek into the pool, steals his rocket launcher, and flees the Outsiders' camp. He is pursued through the jungle and cornered at the edge of a high cliff before being shot in the neck by blowgun darts. After falling into the river below, another prisoner group called the Insiders retrieves him.

Led by a terminally-ill doctor called the Father, the Insiders established a cooperative autonomous community with laws as opposed to the tyranny of the Outsiders. Robbins meets Father; King, the new-arrival helper; and befriends Casey, a naïve young man given a life sentence for a kidnapping which led to a dual felony murder accidentally when the hostages died. Robbins learns that the Insiders are heavily outnumbered by the Outsiders and that he is the only person to have ever escaped from Marek's camp. The weapon he stole is appropriated for the good of the community.

After helping repel an attack by the Outsiders, Father notes Robbins' abilities and asks him to join them. He refuses, saying he wants to leave Absolom; Father takes Robbins to the shore, explaining that they are 200 miles (321.9 km) from the mainland. Gunships patrol 50 miles (80.5 km) off the coast, and infrared satellite technology monitors thermal activity, such as large fires or explosions.

The Insiders have secretly built a scan-proof boat and launch it to tell the outside world about Absolom. However, the boat is destroyed by attack helicopters, causing Father to believe there is an informer among them.

Robbins learns about a new boat and demands a seat, still determined to escape. After learning that the engine needs a distributor, a part Robbins saw while in Marek's camp, he offers to retrieve it in exchange for passage; the Insiders agree. Casey follows Robbins, who infiltrates the Outsiders' camp and gets the engine part, but they are captured by the Outsiders. Robbins is forced to fight Casey to the death. Knowing they won't both escape, Casey impales himself on Robbins' weapon. Robbins escapes a planned execution with the help of an Insider spy, infuriating Marek.

Knowing Marek will attack, and over stern objections, Robbins convinces the Insiders to abandon their camp, but not before lacing it with booby traps. The Father attempts to convince Robbins to be the leader of the group when he dies, as he secretly has been suffering from progressive Hodgkin lymphoma that he estimates could kill him in a month without any sort of proper treatment. He tries to recruit Robbins to take his place as leader, but he asserts his need to escape the island before coming to accept that that the need to assert the truth of what really happened to lead to his imprisonment and the truth about the island are equally important. Robbins stays behind to fire the stolen rocket launcher, igniting an incendiary bomb. Most of the Outsiders die, and the Warden intervenes when the satellites are triggered. Father dies while defending Robbins from Marek. After Robbins kills Marek, he finds the new boat incinerated and evidence that King, promised freedom by the Warden, has killed the engineer. Robbins forces King to give new coordinates to the Warden for where to land his helicopter on the island. Robbins tells Hawkins that The Father told him that Hawkins should be the new leader before enacting a plan with the helicopter. With a group of fellow Insiders, Robbins hijacks the helicopter, throws the Warden out, and vows to spread the truth. King and the Warden are left behind as unseen Outsiders close in on them.

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