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Travis Clyde Tuckton is imprisoned for involuntary manslaughter following a carjacking. This dark chapter establishes his violent disposition and foreshadows the vendetta that drives much of the plot. The sentence lasts years before the events move toward his release.

Travis is released from prison in 2003 and returns to West Virginia to live with his disabled grandfather, Jake Martin. They reside in the old shoemaker's secluded home, where Jake begins to mentor Travis in his family's brutal ways. The reunion sets the stage for a chilling code and a thirst for vengeance that will unfold in parallel with Stewart's story.

Jake initiates Travis into the family tradition of headers, teaching him the brutal technique and the code behind it. This indoctrination frames Travis's violent worldview and he begins to rely on the ruthless methods Jake passes down. The lessons take place at their secluded home in West Virginia.

Travis hitchhikes a ride and, under Jake's supervision, loses his header virginity to the woman. The act is framed as part of the training and marks a disturbing rite of passage for him. The road becomes the backdrop for the first explicit example of the family's brutal 'work'.

After a neighbor's relative argues with Jake, Travis murders that relative. He then vows revenge against all who have wronged his family, proclaiming 'An eye for an eye, and a head for a head!' This marks a decisive turn toward a personal vendetta.

An ATF agent named Stewart Cummings has resorted to drug trafficking to pay for his girlfriend Kathy's medicine. The parallel storyline introduces a fringe of crime that will intersect with Travis's rampage. Stewart's illegal dealings set the broader tension of the film's investigation in motion.

Stewart begins investigating the growing pile of header victims and the evidence increasingly points toward Travis. The investigation pulls the two narratives together, tightening the sense that a reckoning is coming. The manhunt expands beyond the immediate family in the secluded West Virginia setting.

After killing and robbing the two drug dealers he was carrying drugs for, Stewart picks up a hitchhiker who points him toward Jake's cottage. The hitchhiker confirms Travis may be living with his grandfather and provides directions to the central location of the coming confrontation. The thread connects the two plotlines through a single destination.

At the cottage, Travis ambushes Thibald Caudill, whom Jake claimed stole land and killed Travis's parents. Travis kills Caudill and makes it look like a car accident, escalating the feud. The violent act deepens the cycle of vendetta that drives the story.

Stewart walks in on Travis performing a header on Thibald and immediately shoots both Travis and Jake. The confrontation ends the head-violence sequence for the two men and propels Stewart toward a different kind of reckoning. The cottage scene crystallizes the film's collision between personal vengeance and law enforcement.

Stewart returns to his office, where he is told he is being arrested for murdering the drug dealers, one of whom was an undercover officer. A struggle erupts and Stewart shoots his superior and the arresting officer. The sequence reveals a corrupt or unstable justice system as the consequences of his crimes unfold.

Stewart goes home to discover Kathy using cocaine and having sex with her doctor, having faked her illness to obtain drug money all along. The revelation shatters any lingering trust and escalates the moral collapse around Kathy's life. Stewart's sense of control begins to slip as the situation deteriorates.

Stewart snaps, kills the doctor, and shoots Kathy in the knees, then retrieves a drill in preparation for giving her a header. The scene closes the cycle of violence by setting up a final, brutal punishment. It leaves the audience with a chilling sense that violence has become inescapable.