The Slave in Your Backyard: The Local Reality of Human Trafficking, reveals the dark reality of human trafficking as it typically exists in average communities across the US. The film features the story of Heather Pagan who was initially trafficked around the age of 14 by a boyfriend who convinced her that they were building something together that would take her away from the brokenness of her own home and family. Heather tells about the harsh realities of a life bound in drugs and commercial sex as well as the redemptive tale of her escape from "the life" after 18 years of being trafficked.

The nefarious workings of the trade in human persons that touches all walks of life and types of people is further exposed by a former sex trafficker, Bruce, who tells the story of the abusive realities that led to his own entry into a life of crime and trafficking in sex and drugs. He shares his own redemptive story of the near death encounter from being shot 9 times and left paralyzed. Woven throughout these central narratives, the stories of other victims and survivors as well as commentary from law enforcement.