On the second to last day of summer school in 1984, Calvin and Jason Schott hijack a school bus carrying nineteen students, an unthinkable act of violence that devastates the community of Brookwood. Thirty years later, twin sisters and survivors of the ordeal, Brenda and Emily Mashburn, are forced to relive the kidnapping as they film a documentary about the event in an attempt to thwart Calvin's looming parole hearing. Meanwhile, Jason fights for his brother's release, hoping that a reunited family can finally bring peace to their elderly mother and ease the guilt he feels over his role in the kidnapping. The result is a feud between the two families, with neither side willing to back down.

Inspired by the largest kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in American history, Time Will Break the World weaves a rich backdrop of place and circumstance-long-term trauma, dysfunctional family legacies, sibling rivalry, a granite quarry, and the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.