Simeon Norstrad is not a man to fool with. He is the disturbed leader of a tough work gang and he runs his backwoods lumberjack camp like a cruel dictator.
The two Lapain brothers, just downriver at the sawmill, are drawn into Norstrad's insane world when Joe Lapain discovers that his reckless younger brother is working as a debt collector for the town's devious casino owner. When the owner runs foul of Norstrad and calls in the young gunman to help, that's when Joe is pulled into the troubled world of the madman and the green pine woods of Wisconsin are set to have their silence shattered by a violence stained with blood.