Forsaken

A young boy has recently died, and his mother is left distraught. The flashback hints at the trauma that will haunt John Henry long after the war. This memory sets up the film's themes of grief, guilt, and the cost of violence.

John Henry rides back to his family after drifting for a decade following the war. His father, Reverend Samuel Clayton, reveals that his mother died years ago, something John Henry had not known. The reunion is tense, exposing the distance caused by rumors of his exploits.

Samuel is ashamed of John's supposed exploits after the war, and the two are estranged. Samuel warns John Henry to avoid trouble in town and the men led by James McCurdy. The tension foreshadows the conflict to come.

In town, John Henry encounters his former lover, Mary Alice. He learns that she is married and has a son, complicating their feelings. The reunion reintroduces a personal pull as unrest grows in the town.

A tense encounter with Frank Tillman in town foreshadows the strain on John Henry and Samuel. They argue about John Henry's exploits and his faith in God after the war. The confrontation raises the moral stakes for the characters.

McCurdy's gang rides to a farm to coerce the owner to leave. A cowboy murders the man, provoking Dave Turner, who kills the killer in retaliation. This act marks Dave's reluctant entry into the town's cycle of violence.

Later, Frank targets another farm, and others ambush them. McCurdy grows increasingly aggressive in his attempts to displace local landowners. The violence tightens its grip on the community as fear and power shift.

Tom Watson, Mary Alice's husband, sees her speaking with John Henry. John Henry clashed again with McCurdy's gang and allows a man named Ned to beat him without retaliation. Tom's jealousy grows as Mary Alice tends to John Henry.

Tom is persuaded by McCurdy to sell his land and move away, an attempt to remove John Henry's influence over Mary Alice. Dave Turner warns John Henry not to get involved in the scheme. The two men realize they fought at Shiloh on opposite sides, complicating their loyalties.

On Sunday, John Henry attends his father's church service, where Tom demands that he deny loving Mary Alice. John Henry refuses and silently leaves the church. The moment crystallizes the emotional rift between faith, family, and love.

John Henry confesses that after the war he killed a boy with a stray shot in a self-defense gunfight. He remembers the boy and his brother who died in a freezing river. Samuel forgives him and offers comfort, reframing the past with mercy.

McCurdy's machinations continue; Samuel pleads for mercy toward Tom's family but is stabbed in the alley by Ned. John Henry stays with Samuel, helping him stay conscious and urging an end to the violence. The assault becomes the catalyst for John Henry's decision to act.

John Henry retrieves a gun borrowed from the town merchant and enters the saloon. He shoots Ned first, ending the immediate threat against him. The momentum shifts as the confrontation escalates.

In the ensuing gunfight, John Henry kills Frank and the rest of McCurdy's gang. McCurdy himself is shot and falls from the balcony, witnessed by Dave Turner. The town’s power structure collapses as violence gives way to uneasy quiet.

With the town’s danger resolved, John Henry tells Samuel that he must leave to avoid bounty hunters. He promises to return, but Dave Turner’s final voiceover suggests he will visit Mary Alice's grave ribbon and perhaps his father only occasionally, then fade after his father's death. The ending contemplates the cost of violence and the search for a fragile peace.