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Pursuing a speeding pickup truck, Henry Tawes, middle-aged sheriff in the small town of Sutton, Tennessee, encounters adolescents Buddy and Alma McCain. Alma later appears in his office, claiming to have been stranded in town by another brother, Clay. When Tawes drives her home, she seduces him. As the sheriff is bored by his simple wife, Ellen-Haney, and Alma's moonshiner father, Carl, desires legal protection, a passionate affair ensues. The arrival of Federal agent Bascomb, however, complicates the arrangement, forcing the sheriff to demand destruction of the McCains' still. Meanwhile, sheriff's deputy Hunnicutt becomes suspicious of his supervisor. While investigating the McCains he attacks Alma and is killed by her family. Hoping to start a new life with Alma in California, the lawman disposes of the deputy's corpse in the reservoir. Upon returning, he discovers the McCains departed. Tawes successfully pursues the family, only to discover Alma unwilling to join him. Slashing Tawes with a baling hook, she leaves her wounded lover on the highway. (forgalmazó hivatalos szövege)