David Gardner is a talented young executive In a Detroit automotive firm, likely to become its next president. His boss is an old friend of the President of the United States, and when the White House asks for a volunteer group to propose solutions for overcrowding of America's prisons-and the related larger crime problem current in the U.S.-Gardner is assigned the task. He forms a committee comprised of a female executive he is dating, a tough, streetwise New York car dealer, and a fellow executive who happens to be his competitor for the chief executive job. The idea they come up with turns out to be highly imaginative but completely illegal-the transfer of willing prisoners to old ships cheaply converted into jails and anchored near sunny Carribean islands. Against the advice of his boss, Gardner presents the proposal, and an anxious President buys it, betting that a groundswell of citizen approval will quiet any congressional objections. The apparent early success of the program earns Gardner the title of "Citizen of the Year." However a constant pressure from certain members of the press plus the explosive potential of rickety ships and cargos of convicts with little to lose, lead to some unspeakable tragedies that will threaten the lives, loves, and futures of all involved.