Firecracker

In 1950s Wamego, Kansas, the skeletal remains of a murder victim are being exhumed from beneath a storage shed. Chief Ed Carlisle oversees the procedure as the case is reopened and the town's attention returns to a long-buried mystery. The exhumation frames the narrative that leads to the flashbacks of the events that followed.

As the body is dug up, Chief Ed Carlisle begins reconstructing the chain of events that led to the murder. The present-day investigation sets a frame for the flashbacks that recount the town's troubled dynamics. The town buzzes with speculation about what happened to the missing man.

In their family home, David bullies and belittles his younger brother Jimmy during a tense dinner. He derides Jimmy's piano dreams and orders him to abandon music to work at the garage and grow into a 'real man.' The atmosphere is volatile, foreshadowing the violence to come.

Jimmy escapes the dysfunction by visiting a traveling carnival that stops in Wamego each summer. He develops a platonic friendship with Sandra, a glamorous aging lounge singer who is trapped by the carnival's cruel owner, Frank. The carnival represents a possible doorway to a different life, at least in Jimmy's eyes.

David returns home and takes out his frustrations on Jimmy in a strongly implied sexual assault. The family house becomes a stage for control, intimidation, and harm that shapes Jimmy's sense of safety and identity. The scene signals the deep-seated abuse within the household.

David confronts Sandra at her trailer and discovers Jimmy hiding there. A tense confrontation begins to intensify existing tensions between the two men and the fragile trio. This moment links Jimmy's family trauma with the carnival world and Sandra's own peril.

David's past relationship with Sandra comes to light as Sandra reveals she was pregnant; Frank, the carnival owner, learns of the pregnancy and brutally terminates it, mutilating her to keep her from attracting other men. The carnival's microcosm of exploitation is revealed. This backstory foreshadows the violence that surrounds Jimmy and Sandra.

Enraged and possessive, David rapes Jimmy in front of Sandra after the confrontation at the trailer. The act brutalizes the relationship between brothers and widens the rift within the family circle. Sandra consoles Jimmy, who then returns home, carrying the weight of his trauma.

The carnival leaves town the next day, coinciding with David's disappearance that has stirred Ed's investigation. The present-day frame threads the investigation with the rumor of a murder at the family home. The town begins to connect the dots between a vanished man and a doomed carnival world.

The carnival's harsh environment drives Sandra to plan an escape; the other carnival freaks support her attempt to leave. Frank's refusal to let her go escalates the hold he has over the troupe. The dynamics inside the carnival deepen the sense that escape from this world is fragile.

Sandra, aided by the other freaks, overpowers Frank and strangles him to death with her chains. The freaks hide her from Frank's henchmen and give her money and a bus ticket to run away. But the henchmen capture her in a field and brutally kill her, ending any hope of a clean escape.

In a different thread of the memory, Eleanor breaks in to find Jimmy traumatized and David abusing him. She stabs David to death with a pair of scissors and, in a frantic act of denial, helps Jimmy bury the body under the shed. The mother’s mental breakdown follows, reshaping the family tragedy.

Pearl, a local psychic girl, locates the burial site and digs up David's corpse, turning the case over to Chief Ed. The sight of a hand emerging from the earth confirms the murder and forces the community to confront the family tragedy.

Jimmy tentatively confesses to David's murder in a bid to save his mother from further punishment. He faces justice and is sentenced to life in prison. The confession ties the family’s guilt to the town’s legal system and leaves questions about redemption.

Jimmy is released on parole years later, and the town’s Chief Ed, now a district judge, seals the case so no record exists today. The tragedy remains buried beneath the surface of the community. The film ends with Jimmy’s tears, a lingering memory of a family destroyed by secrets.