In 2002, Cindy Shank was living with her drug dealer boyfriend when he was shot and killed outside his home. She was charged with conspiracy because of the amount of substances and weapons inside the house. The charges were initially dropped because she didn’t have anything to do with her boyfriend’s activities. However, federal charges were eventually brought against her, and she received a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison.

The Sentence is a grueling documentary that examines nearly a decade in the life of Shank and her family as they deal with the stress of Cindy’s incarceration and the lengthy appeals process. Birthdays are missed, relationships fall apart, and a family does its best to stay together under the crushing weight of an arguably excessive federal sentence.