Before sunrise on August 29, 2005, Nolan Hayes arrives at a New Orleans hospital with his pregnant wife, Abigail, who has gone into early labor. What should be one of the happiest days of Nolan's life quickly spirals out of control when the birth goes tragically wrong and Hurricane Katrina ravages the hospital, forcing an evacuation. Told to stay with his child, who is on a ventilator, and await transfer by ambulance, Nolan and his newborn are soon cut off from the world by power outages and rising floodwaters. When no one returns to help, Nolan faces one life-and-death decision after another, fighting to keep his daughter alive, as minute-by-agonizing minute passes, becoming unimaginable "Hours."