Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.

Set in a dirt-poor neighborhood in the fictional city of San Lovisa, Texas, EvenHand tells the story of two very different cops, working together for the first time. Rob Francis, recently divorced, finds the adjustment from his previous assignment in “Sleepytown” difficult. With his new partner, the volatile Ted Morning, he spends his days breaking up domestic disputes and attempting to make sense of a parade of lowlifes, firebugs and junkies. Morning is the original Texas cowboy, all muscle and bravado: arrest ’em first, ask questions later. The characters and events in EvenHand subtly intertwine until Francis and Morning must both face the consequences of their very different approaches to the job. Filmed on location in San Antonio, Texas, EvenHand is a police story, but it’s not about car chases or shoot-outs. It’s about two cops struggling to survive in a world where, without warning, numbing routine can give way to primal fear.