Plot summary

In 1922, Wilfred "Wilf" James (Thomas Jane) is a farmer living in Hemingford Home, Nebraska with his wife, Arlette (Molly Parker) and their 14-year-old son Henry (Dylan Schmid). Wilf and Arlette have been arguing over whether to sell land Arlette recently inherited; Wilf, citing that a man's pride is his land, is strongly opposed to Arlette's plans to sell the farm and move to Omaha. Wilf decides to convince Henry to help him murder his mother in order to prevent losing his land and his son, holding Henry's girlfriend Shannon (Kaitlyn Bernard), with whose relationship Arlette opposes, at stake. Henry reluctantly agrees to assist his father in carrying out the murder.Wilf pretends to agree to the sale, appeasing Arlette. As she celebrates, she becomes inebriated. After carrying her to bed in a drunken stupor, Henry covers her face while Wilf cuts her throat with a butcher's knife. Wilf intends to bury Arlette in one of his corn fields; however Henry collapses from the ordeal, prompting Wilf to dump her body into a dry well where her corpse is soon fed upon by rats. The next day, they drop a cow into the well to hide Arlette's body as well as provide a reason for filling in the well. However, Sheriff Jones (Brian d'Arcy James) is suspicious following her sudden disappearance. While searching the house, he questions Wilf about Arlette, with Wilf stating she left them on her own accord. Finding no proof of a crime, Sheriff Jones leaves, tentatively believing Wilf's details of his wife's departure.As time passes Henry becomes brooding and isolated, regretting the crime that he and his father have committed. His girlfriend Shannon grows increasingly concerned and is subsequently discovered to be pregnant with their unborn child. Her parents decide she is to be sent away to a Catholic institution in Omaha until the baby is born and can be given up for adoption. However, Henry steals Wilf's car, arrives in Omaha and runs away with Shannon.As the winter passes away, Wilf appears to be going insane, being constantly harassed by rats. It is clear the rats remind him of his wife, and are a symbol of his growing guilt. He takes out a mortgage on his house to fix it up, but never actually does the work. The roof on his barn caves in, as does the roof of his home. However, he is too consumed by guilt and alcohol to fix it. His house fairs in to a state of total disrepair, leaking, dark, and with one of his cows living in it. It also becomes completed infested by rats. One rat bites his hand, which becomes infected, and must be amputated.In a climactic scene, Wilf is confronted by the ghost of his wife, surrounded by the rats which ate her. She corners him in the basement and sadistically whispers to him. She recounts, as the viewer sees, the fate of Henry and Shannon. They became robbers, known as the "The Sweetheart Bandits.", very similar to Bonnie and Clyde. During one of their heists, Shannon is shot, causing her to lose the baby and ultimately die from massive blood loss. After finding his girlfriend dead, Henry lies down next to her and kills himself with the handgun he used to rob his victims. Later, an unidentified woman's body is found on the side of the road which the sheriff assumes is Arlette. Henry's body is delivered to Wilf, which, like his mother's body, has been chewed through by rats. No one attends Henry's funeral, except for Wilf. He turns, and again sees the ghost of his wife, surrounded by rats.Wilf attempts to sell his land to Shannon's father (Neal McDonough), who bluntly tells Wilf to leave his property and never come back. Wilf moves to Omaha to find work, but cannot escape being followed by rats.Eight years later, in 1930, Wilf writes his confession, stating, "In the end, we all get caught." By this point, dozens of rats have swarmed his room. Arlette, Henry, and Shannon's corpses have appeared in front of the frightened Wilf. Brandishing the same butcher's knife used to kill his mother, Henry tells Wilf that his death will be quick.