Dallas Pittman, a haughty, successful factory accountant from Chicago, moves his emotionally unstable new wife, Ronnie, and unruly teenager, Zazu, back to his decrepit rural hometown, where he is reunited with his two sorely frustrated brothers, each of whom are keenly suspicious as to why he suddenly decided to give up a lucrative lifestyle to return to an oppressed area he was once so anxious to leave. The oldest, Lewis, is an irresponsible adulterer who is angry at being married to a disabled woman, Lita, and is determined to learn why Dallas has returned. The youngest, Sammy, is a timid man with an estranged spouse who feels guilty for having encouraged his son to join the War on Terror. Along with Sheriff Mickey Gillespie, a self-defeated man distraught over his inability to quit drinking and hold his marriage together, all four men struggle to deal with the aftermath of an ugly incident which occurred between them years ago down in a ratty old tornado bunker which they've never been able to hide and forget.