Trama

Season 1

The first season follows the story of Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), who is accused of murdering Terrence Steadman (Jeff Perry), the brother of the Vice President of the United States, Caroline Reynolds (Patricia Wettig). Lincoln has been sentenced to death and is incarcerated in Fox River State Penitentiary, a Supermax prison where he awaits his execution. Lincoln's brother, brilliant structural engineer Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), is convinced of Lincoln's innocence and formulates an escape plan. In order to gain access to Fox River, Michael commits an armed robbery which results in his being sentenced to Fox River. Once in prison, Michael quickly starts to build a team, he recruits his cellmate Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), lifer Charles Westmorland (Muse Watson), whom Scofield suspects him of being infamous criminal DB Cooper who has millions stashed on the outside and mobster John Abruzzi (Peter Stormare) who is in charge of Prison Industries (PI). Also to aid in the escape Micheal manages to get into the good graces of the prison warden Henry Pope (Stacy Keach) by offering to build an anniversary present for his wife. Micheal also befriends the prison doctor Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) when he pretends to suffer from Type 1 diabetes, in order to gain daily access to the prison's infirmary but starts to fall for her. However, the captain of the guards' Brad Bellick (Wade Williams) instantly takes a dislike to Scofield and starts to suspect something is up with the new inmate. Also in on the escape is Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell (Robert Knepper) and Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin (Rockmond Dunbar) who both discover the escape plan (at different times) and blackmail their way onto the team.

Aiding Lincoln on the outside is the brother's lifelong friend Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney), who begins to investigate the conspiracy that put Lincoln in jail, she teams up with Nick Savrinn (Frank Grillo) a volunteer with project justice. However, the pair are hindered by secret service agents Paul Kellerman (Paul Adelstein) and Daniel Hale (Danny McCarthy) who work with an organization known as The Company. The Company was responsible for framing Lincoln, and they did so because of Lincoln's father, Aldo Burrows, who left the Company to form and lead an Anti-Company movement with other former operatives who felt the Company was becoming the very threat they were suppose to protect America against. The Company want to use Lincoln to draw Aldo out of hiding. Kellerman and Hale attempt to Kill Veronica and Frame Lincoln's son LJ for the murder of his Mother and Stepfather. Veronica, Nick and LJ soon release that the conspiracy reaches all the way to the top.

In the season finale, Westmorland confesses the location of his hidden money before dying and Michael, Lincoln, Sucre, Abruzzi, T-Bag, C-Note, and two other inmates David "Tweener" Apolskis (Lane Garrison), and Charles "Haywire" Patoshik (Silas Weir Mitchell) manage to escape from Fox River and become known as the Fox River Eight. Whilst LJ is captured by the police, Nick is killed and Veronica tracks Terrance Steadman who's revealed to be alive, whilst Vice President Reynolds kills the President becoming a bigger threat now she is President.

Season 2

The second season begins eight hours after the escape, focusing mainly on the escapees. The fugitives split up and journey to locations across the country with the authorities close behind them as they each pursue their individual goals. Meanwhile, Bellick gets blamed for the escape and is fired from the Fox River and chases after the inmates himself for the reward money. Several of the escapees reunite in search of Westmorland's money. Federal agent Alexander Mahone (William Fichtner) is assigned to track down and capture the eight fugitives but is revealed to be working for The Company, which wants all eight men dead. When Sara discovers her dead father, Governor Frank Tancredi, she meets with Michael, remaining with him as the brothers try to bring down President Reynolds, who's in cahoots with The company. To ensure the brothers' safety, Sara allows herself to be arrested and faces trial. During the trial, the testimony of Paul Kellerman, who used to work for the Company-controlled President, exonerates Lincoln and Sara. Several of the escapees are killed or recaptured, but the brothers make it to Panama. Michael, T-Bag, Mahone, and Bellick are arrested by the Panamanian authorities and imprisoned at the Penitenciaría Federal de Sona.

Season 3

The third season follows both Michael inside Sona and Lincoln on the outside in Panama. Sona is a prison that has been run by the inmates and guarded only from the outside since a riot the year before. Burrows is quickly contacted by Gretchen Morgan (a Company operative who was in charge of operations in Panama) who kidnapped his son LJ (Marshall Allman) and Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies), the woman Michael loves. He is told that The Company wants Scofield to break James Whistler (Chris Vance) out of Sona. The season follows Michael and Whistler's trials in formulating an escape plan, as Michael has to deal with extreme tension and as Lincoln deals with the Company's operative Gretchen Morgan (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Sucre gets a job at the prison to aid Michael in his escape plan. When Lincoln attempts to rescue Sara and LJ following a clue provided by Sara, Gretchen claims to have beheaded Sara and sends Lincoln a head in a box as a warning. As the season ends, the pair manage to escape along with Mahone, and another inmate McGrady leaving behind several accomplices including T-Bag and Bellick. A prison guard discovers Sucre's identity and he is thrown into Sona just after the escape. LJ and Sofia (who was captured for a guarantee that Whistler would go with her) are traded for Whistler, and Michael seeks revenge against Gretchen for Sara's death.

Season 4

The major story-line for the fourth season concerns a team recruited by Homeland Security agent Don Self (Michael Rapaport) to obtain Scylla. Although the team initially believes it to be the Company's "black book", it is later revealed to contain information on an advanced renewable power cell. Over the course of the first half of the season, the team obtain cards to access Scylla and break into Company headquarters to steal it. In the first half, Sara is discovered to be alive, Bellick is killed, and Self is revealed to be a double agent and is planning to sell Scylla to the highest bidder. Reluctantly, Lincoln decides to join the Company to get it back, while Michael suffers from a hypothalamic hamartoma. He is treated and operated on by the Company. He later learns that his mother, Christina is still alive and was an agent of the Company, who is revealed to acquire Scylla to sell to the highest bidder. Eventually, the series ends in Miami, where Scylla is recovered by Michael and the team, the General and the Company are taken down, and Christina is killed. In Prison Break: The Final Break, a story is told explaining what happened following the events of the last episode (before the four-year flash-forward) and the strange scar on Sara's shoulder. This story involves the incarceration of Sara in Miami-Dade county penitentiary due to budgetary cutbacks; there are cots installed there acting as the county jail. With the General and T-Bag in the adjacent Men's facility, the General wants Sara dead and offers a $100,000 bounty. Largely echoing season one, Sara is involved in common prison fare before Michael hears of the bounty, and plans are devised for her escape. And in the end, Michael sacrifices himself for his brother, wife and child. It was also his choice to do, due to his disease, a brain tumor.