The Driftless Area

Pierre returns to his Driftless Area hometown after the death of his parents. He is a college graduate who has become a bartender and is searching for his footing. The trip home is haunted by grief but also a glimmer of purpose.

A swaggering Shane gives Pierre a ride and charges $20 for the trip, then dumps him further down the road. He even steals the rosebush from the back seat as he leaves. Pierre's anger at the treatment begins to simmer on the roadside.

In a moment of reckless anger, Pierre hurls a rock at Shane's car. The impact sends Shane careening around the next bend and off the road. The incident marks the first collision between two fates tied to a stash of money.

Pierre investigates the wreck and discovers a bag containing $77,000 in Shane's pickup. He deduces the money was likely meant for someone else, a woman connected to the rock who might have claimed plastic surgery for a scar. This windfall pulls him toward a dangerous path.

Shane comes to and, desperate to escape, steals a car from a kind passerby who stops to help him. He drives off with the money still on his mind, igniting a fresh chase. The theft pushes the plot toward its deadly confrontation.

While wandering through a field, Pierre falls into a deep well and is saved by Stella, a ghost who lingers near the living world. He is grateful for the rescue and begins to feel a complicated affection for her. Stella's presence anchors the film's emotional gravity.

Pierre grows to feel a deep, complicated affection for Stella, even as he acknowledges she is not among the living. A veteran named Tim Geer steps in to help Stella cope with her spectral existence and seek retribution for a life unjustly taken. Their interactions deepen the mystery surrounding Stella's past.

Shane, his brother Ned, and their ally Lyle return to reclaim the money. Pierre, wary and calculating, leads them toward a trap. The tension among the players tightens as the stakes rise.

Pierre's careful planning pushes the confrontation into a trap-filled sting operation. The encounter intensifies as suspicions flare and loyalties fracture. The money becomes the driving force behind the escalating danger.

Pierre sits to write his will, leaving his car to Carrie, his grey felt hat to Keith, and his binoculars to Stella. The act signals his acceptance of mortality and his care for the people and beings around him. This quiet preparedness foreshadows the upcoming violence and its consequences.

During the confrontation, Shane shoots Lyle through the heart. A chaotic exchange follows, with betrayal and gunfire spiraling toward a tragic end. Pierre's wary leadership cannot prevent the deadly cascade.

Shane and Pierre kill each other in a tense shootout. As Shane dies, Stella appears to him, questioning the killing and offering a quiet, otherworldly solace. The moment reframes the violence as a chance for mercy rather than vengeance.

Pierre awakens not in a graveyard but on a bright, sunlit beach, where Stella greets him and says their time together is just beginning. The living and the dead linger in a quiet, hopeful possibility beyond the Driftless Area.