The second feature-length adaptation of author Jim Thompson's acclaimed 1952 crime novel, Michael Winterbottom's unflinching, psychosexual post-noir stars Casey Affleck as Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford, a stoic small-town lawman leading a secret life as a serial killer. His West Texas jurisdiction plagued by a series of unsolved murders, Deputy Sheriff Ford does his best to maintain a cool facade while working to deflect the suspicions of the locals. When those suspicions grow too strong to ignore, the psychotic sheriff begins to buckle under the pressure.