Terminally unlucky, flat broke and unhoused, single parent Maben (Wila Fitzgerald) wafts like a tumbleweed into a small Mississippi town with her seven-year-old daughter Annalee (Pyper Braun). Why she is chosen to come to this particular podunk municipality isn’t clear at first, but by and by we learn that Maben has a connection to the place. However, her return is far from joyful considering once she’s checked herself and Annalee into a seedy motel and put the little one to bed, she makes a half-hearted attempt to turn a trick in the car park which goes horrifically wrong when a local sheriff (Shiloh Fernandez), arrests her, rapes her, and then calls his buddies to come over and have a turn. From there, things just get worse, if that’s conceivable.
Meanwhile, in another part of town around the same time, newly released convict Russell (Garrett Hedlund) gets off the bus from prison and is promptly beaten up by local alcoholic redneck Larry (Ryan Hurst) and his brother Walt (Michael Aaron Milligan). Larry has never forgiven Russell for something that also gets revealed in the back half of the film. It seems Russell can’t forgive himself for this, although there’s plenty of absolution on offer from his religious dad Mitchell (notorious God-botherer Mel Gibson, still working on both career and personal redemption it seems). Mitchell offers his son a choice of places to stay: either in a disused property in town or at home with him on the family farm where widowed Mitchell has shacked up with Consuela (Paulina Gálvez), a character who has no distinguishing characteristics apart from an earthy sensuality signalled by her peasant blouse/tiered skirt combo and enthusiasm for cooking.
