Life After Life is an intimate portrait of Tyra Patterson, a Black woman wrongfully convicted of murder at 19 and sentenced to 43 years to life. After serving 23 years, she walked out of prison on Christmas Day 2017. But freedom, as Tyra discovers, is not the same as being free.

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Filmed over eight years, the documentary is told in part through a deeply personal letter Tyra writes to the victim in her case—a reckoning with loss, grief, and the lifelong scars of mass incarceration. This letter anchors her story as she faces the hidden struggles of reentry: the stigma of a felony label, the psychological weight of decades lost, and the painful process of rebuilding fractured family bonds, including her complicated relationship with her mother after so many years apart.

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In the midst of these challenges, Tyra is diagnosed with cancer while the cameras are rolling. As she fights for her life, she also fights to build a new one—working as a paralegal, finding her voice as a public speaker, and dedicating herself to helping others trapped in the criminal justice system. Her victories, hard-won on many fronts, reveal both the extraordinary resilience required to survive and the courage it takes to transform pain into purpose.

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A first-hand account of the real-life challenges of living after serving a life sentence, Life After Life asks what it truly means to begin again after decades behind bars. Through Tyra’s honesty and determination, the film offers a rare, female perspective on the enduring toll of incarceration—and the strength it takes to imagine a future beyond it.