Recreating events in the life of a mass murderer known as "The Jackal," this real-life drama tells the story of an illiterate peasant migrant, José (Villagra), who drunkenly murders a widow (Roman) and her five children. Sentenced to death by firing squad, José is sent to prison, where he learns to read and write, develops faith under the guidance of an attentive chaplain (Noguera), and comes to repent his crime.

An astonishing directorial debut by Chilean director Miguel Littin, "Jackal" portrays the life and wasted social reform of an abject murderer left to his own devices at age 8, directing much of its veiled anger at the futility of capital punishment and the failures of a society that leaves its neediest people to fend for themselves. Based on extensive interviews and filmed in a gritty, naturalistic style, "Jackal" is an honest, unsentimental look at a corrupt system through the eyes of a misguided innocent.