In November 1959, four members of the Clutter family are murdered in their home in a small Kansas farming community; law enforcement survey the aftermath of the seemingly unmotivated crime, while Perry Smith and Richard Hickock go on the lam.

In the wake of the Clutter family murders, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock go on the run; Truman Capote becomes interested in the case; interviews shed light on who the killers were before the murders.

Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are returned to Garden City after being caught in Las Vegas. Interviews discuss their return and subsequent trial.

Perry Smith and Richard Hickock are convicted and face a death sentence; Truman Capote's coverage of the infamous case and his ensuing novel, "In Cold Blood," spawns the modern American True Crime genre.