Adespota skylia

Los Angeles scriptwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) and his wife, TV actress Amy Sumner (Kate Bosworth), move to Blackwater, Mississippi, where Amy grew up, to rebuild Amy's recently deceased father's house, and so that David can finish a script. David meets Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie Venner (Alexander Skarsgård) and his friends Norman (Rhys Coiro), Chris (Billy Lush) and Bic (Drew Powell), whom he hires to fix the house's roof, which was recently badly damaged by a hurricane. David also meets former football coach Tom Heddon (James Woods), whose 15-year-old daughter Janice (Willa Holland) is attracted to a local mentally handicapped man, Jeremy Niles (Dominic Purcell), who lives with his brother Daniel (Walton Goggins). Heddon often bullies Jeremy, who may have committed a crime in the past, and believes Jeremy is stalking his daughter.

Charlie and his friends begin taunting David, who is initially condescending to their customs. The taunting escalates into harassment as they make crude remarks towards Amy and play loud music to annoy David and prevent him from working on his screenplay. They break into the house and strangle the couple's cat while they are at a social gathering. David is hesitant to confront the men about the cat's death without evidence of their involvement, so Amy does it. Shortly thereafter, while David is away hunting with the men, Charlie breaks into the house and rapes Amy. While she is recovering, Norman appears and rapes her as well.

David returns, having been abandoned in the woods by the men, but Amy doesn't tell him about the rape. David fires the men the following day. At Amy's insistence, they go to a local football game, where Amy and Charlie meet. Meanwhile, Janice takes Jeremy to an empty locker area and attempts to give him oral sex. Heddon notices her absence and begins looking for her. Jeremy, scared of Heddon, puts his hand over Janice's mouth to silence her, accidentally smothering her to death. He runs away just as Heddon informs Charlie and his friends of Janice's disappearance and deduces that Jeremy has done something to her.

Amy becomes uncomfortable with Charlie and asks David to take her home. On the way, she tells him she wants to return to Los Angeles, surprising him and causing him to accidentally run over Jeremy. David and Amy take him to their home and call Sheriff John Burke (Laz Alonso). Heddon finds out and goes to David and Amy's house with Charlie, Norman, Chris and Bic. Heddon confronts David, but David says he will only turn Jeremy over to the state authorities. Frustrated, Heddon kills Burke and then attempts to enter the house. David then takes Amy and Jeremy to the bedroom and prepares to fight off the men.

Chris attempts to break into the house through a window, so David nails his hand to the wall with a nail gun, then tells him he hopes the glass slits his throat. When Heddon tries to follow, David burns his face with boiling vegetable oil. Heddon and Charlie decide to ram one of the house's walls with Charlie's pick-up truck. They succeed, but Charlie is momentarily knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, David overpowers Heddon, causing Heddon to accidentally shoot his own foot. David then takes the opportunity to shoot Heddon in the chest, killing him. He then beats Bic to death with a fireplace poker. Upstairs, Amy and Jeremy are attacked by Norman who has climbed through a window with a ladder. Norman is preparing to rape Amy again when David and Charlie appear. Charlie and Norman turn on David, giving Amy the opportunity to shoot Norman with Charlie's shotgun, killing him. David and Charlie fight, and Charlie overpowers David. As he prepares to kill him, Amy aims on Charlie with his shotgun. Charlie says that it is out of shells but the distraction gives David the opportunity to kill him by ensnaring his head with a bear trap. Amy is traumatized as she sees Charlie's head. David, covered in blood, looks at her in recognition before he walks away. As sirens approach, David looks at the burning barn, announcing that he "got them all".