Summary
Highlights
The film opens introducing Tommy Graham, an intellectually disabled man living with his alcoholic and atheist father, Josiah. Tommy frequently prays for his estranged siblings and parents. After his mother, Miriam, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a willow tree, townspeople claim her ghost haunts the house. Oil executives attempt to buy the Graham property, revealing the tragic family history. Josiah, after experiencing a shocking event, claims Miriam visited him and is suffering in hellfire, now believing in God. He instructs Tommy to clean the house and atone for his sins, including a disturbing act of forced self-pleasure.
Eli, Tommy's brother, is introduced with a troubled past, having served time for molesting a minor despite claiming the relationship was consensual. He owes a large sum of money to a dangerous man named Boone, who tasks him with stealing a hoard of gold from a group of gypsies. Eli attempts to distract the gypsies, and during a tea reading with Mama Luna, his past is revealed, and he's warned of his impending death. He discovers the gypsies are holding a missing child, the same one police are looking for. After a struggle, Eli rescues the child and escapes with the gold. Upon returning the gold, Boone dies of a heart attack, suggesting the gold is cursed. Eli takes the child to a police station and returns to his trailer, where he receives a stunning letter.
Mary, Eli's twin sister, struggles to adopt due to past sterilization and mental health concerns. She's reunited with Eli, who tries to convince her to sign papers to sell their childhood home. Eli uses their childhood game, "Mary May I," to manipulate her. They decide to visit Tommy to convince him. At the old house, the siblings express concern about something hidden that developers might uncover. Tommy and Josiah observe them, and Josiah claims the twins are responsible for Miriam being in hellfire. Eli later reveals that Tommy's "son," Tanner, is actually his own son. Tommy then accuses Eli and Mary of having an incestuous relationship and a baby, leading to their mother's suicide.
Eli reveals that their father, Josiah, has been dead for 23 years, implying Tommy is either hallucinating or seeing a spirit. Eli reminds Tommy of Josiah's abusive past, including molesting Mary, which resulted in her getting pregnant. Their mother's suicide, triggered by this revelation, led all three siblings to kill their father. Tommy, however, accuses the twins of killing the baby. Eli and Mary frantically break open a locked chest, finding the remains of both Josiah and the baby. Tommy, enraged, attacks and kills Eli with an axe. He then brutally murders Mary, fulfilling the cycle of violence. The film ends with Josiah drinking, Tommy motionless, and the willow tree engulfing in flames, revealing a flashback of Eli and Mary having an incestuous encounter, confirming Tommy's accusations.