Gary, Tye Sheridan, a 15-year-old drifter, asks Joe Ransom, Nicolas Cage, the even-tempered tattooed, chain-smoking boss of a Texan tree-poisoning crew, for a job and quickly earns respect with his steady work ethic. The next day, he brings his alcoholic father, Wade, to work, but Wade’s lazy attitude costs them their positions. Joe witnesses Wade beating Gary and taking his money, a memory that will haunt the pair.
Gary returns to Joe’s house to ask for his job back, swearing he’ll make up for his father’s behavior. Joe agrees, and Gary begins working for him, secretly stashing money away from Wade as the two men form an uneasy, weathered bond. The fragile peace is shattered when Willie Russell, a criminal with whom Joe has a long-standing feud, shoots and wounds Joe as he leaves a friend’s house. The danger escalates when Gary later meets Willie and tries to help him, only to be met with crude remarks about his sister Dorothy, prompting Gary to beat Willie in defense.
Meanwhile, Wade escalates his own violence, beating a homeless man to death and stealing the man’s liquor. Willie confronts Joe at a bar and demands to know where Gary lives; when Joe refuses to disclose the information and Willie's pressure grows, Joe hits him. He orders the bartender to call the police but then retreats to a brothel, only to return with his dog Faith and a brutal act that ends with the guard dog killed by Faith. Two police officers stop him at gunpoint; Joe challenges them to a fight and is arrested, though soon released.
Wade presses Gary for money, but Gary denies having any. Wade discovers food in the cupboard and presses the question of how they’ll survive. An argument ends with Wade pulling a knife, threatening to come back for Gary’s money. Gary visits Joe, who reveals his 29 months in prison for assaulting police officers, and Gary agrees to help look for Joe’s missing dog. The two spend hours together, grow closer, and eventually find the dog; Joe gives Gary his lighter as a keepsake.
Joe finds Wade walking and offers him a ride, but Wade insults Gary and accuses Joe of not paying him. Joe grips Wade by the collar and warns him not to hurt Gary again. Later, Gary tells Joe he has enough money to buy his own truck, and Joe takes him to a dealership. He then tells Gary to keep the money for a truck and use it to get insurance, promising to explain what “insurance” means. On the way home, a police patrol stops Joe for a breathalyzer, which he refuses; after a tense confrontation, Joe fights the officer and is briefly in trouble again. A senior officer, a friend of Joe’s and a fellow ex-con, visits and suggests the patrol cop “had it coming,” but cautions Joe to stay out of trouble.
Gary arrives at Joe’s house with a bruised face, asking to borrow the truck. He reveals that Wade beat him, stole his own truck, and left with Dorothy with the intent of pimping her out to Willie and his gang. They pursue Wade. In the meantime, Willie pays Wade and prepares to assault Dorothy first. Joe intervenes, subdues Willie, and Gary helps Dorothy escape. Willie pleads for mercy, but a thug in Willie’s party shoots Joe in the side and accidentally shoots Willie too. Joe kills the thug and finishes off Willie, then staggers toward Wade on a nearby bridge. He tries to shoot Wade, but he’s out of bullets. Wade asks if Joe is his friend, and when Joe does not respond, Wade jumps to his death. Joe collapses, staring at the gaping wound in his side as Gary arrives with the sheriff and cradles him.
In the aftermath, the story jumps forward: Gary, carrying the memory of Joe and the dog, drives Joe’s car and heads to a job interview to replant the woods that Joe and his crew originally tore down. The film closes on the hard-earned, fragile continuity of life and the burden of survival, leaving Gary to carry forward Joe’s legacy in a world where violence, loyalty, and debt intertwine in the harsh Texas landscape.
