Endangered Species

Ruben Castle, a hard-edged New York City police officer, resigns from the force and commits to sobriety. He decides to move with his estranged teenage daughter Mackenzie to Colorado to start fresh and repair their relationship.

During the move, their trailer suffers a tire blowout and the pair become stranded near the rural town of Buffalo. Mackenzie searches for a tow truck and, in a tense moment, crashes into the patrol SUV of the newly appointed town sheriff, Harriet Perdue.

Ruben and Mackenzie park their trailer at a campground and begin meeting the locals. Ruben runs into Harriet again and learns she is the town's sheriff, quickly forming a cautious rapport with her.

Harriet explains a string of cattle mutilations plaguing the region, fueling conspiracy theories about UFOs and a Satanic cult. Local newspaper publisher Joe Hiatt provides Ruben with background on the case and the sightings of black helicopters.

Ruben and Harriet grow closer as colleagues who share a police background, drawn together by the case. Their budding friendship becomes a quiet anchor amid the town's paranoia and danger.

One night, Harriet is summoned to a burning barn and attempts to save a bull, though the blaze proves devastating. The dangerous atmosphere pushes Ruben to become more involved with the investigation.

On a date with Wayne, Mackenzie spots a car speeding from the barn and follows it into a wrecking yard. Two men are apprehended for arson, which appears staged to incite fear in the town.

Joe Hiatt shares more about the mutilations and reports sightings of the helicopters, while his editorials alienate the town's mayor and cattle baron Ben Morgan. Ruben finds himself drawn deeper into the mystery.

Ruben relapses and drinks, then chases a grain mill truck driving erratically to a fenced industrial complex. The pursuit marks a turn toward a hidden network connected to the cattle investigations.

In the next morning, ranchers bring a mutilated cow to the police station, and Ruben learns from Joe that the grain truck points to an abandoned military outpost. The investigation deepens as biology findings hint at government experimentation.

Ruben covertly visits Ben Morgan's ranch and witnesses a black helicopter landing as mercenaries threaten Ben. The conspirators are pressuring him to allow cattle to be used for medical experiments, with the nephew in DC pulling the strings.

Ruben confronts Ben at his office; Ben crashes the car and dies from abdominal rupture. Harriet is forced to arrest Ruben for kidnapping, while insisting to her superiors that Joe and Ben were murdered for their knowledge of the experiments.

The next morning, Mackenzie is abducted by mercenaries as Ruben prepares to fly back to New York. Harriet and Ruben decide to infiltrate the military outpost to find her.

Ruben and Harriet sneak into the outpost as a larger force closes in. Harriet locates Mackenzie in the rafters, heightening the stakes of the rescue.

Steele stabs Ruben, who shoots Steele to death; Peck and other operatives open fire as the trio flees on foot. Outside, police and vigilantes shoot down a helicopter, and the townspeople watch the helicopters retreat into the distance.