This dramatised documentary depicts the events leading up to the hanging of Ronald Ryan in Pentridge Gaol in 1967 - the last man hanged in Australia. Through the eyes of Keith Willey (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), the journalist who followed the case, we see Ryan as a complex man who was as much a victim as those he had violated. This documentary details how the State Premier, Sir Henry Bolte, facing an imminent election, decided to make an issue of the case and pushed through the hanging despite nationwide protest. What evolves is powerful and emotional statement about capital punishment.