John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) stages a clever prison-break to free his crew of fellow bank-robbers and starts to break into a few more banks. At the same time, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) declares America's first way on crime, and appoints super-agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) as the man responsible for tracking down Dillinger. Dillinger gets captured but breaks out of his Indiana prison in a very daring fashion, frustrating Purvis and the FBI.