A young man witnesses his father brutally murder a family. Thirty years later he meets and falls in love with the baby that was spared.

The film explores the theme that a person is \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"born\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" to a life of being good or evil. Love-interest Kay sees only the good in Arlis, but Arlis believes he\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s of the same flesh and bone as his father. He lets himself hope for a life with Kay, but he is unable to get beyond his past after his father brings Kay to the scene of the family\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s murder. Arlis can kill, but he does so to save Kay. When Kay confronts her abusive husband, but doesn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t shoot him, Arlis says she hasn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t got it in her. When Arlis confronts his hired man Elliot, whom his father said was stealing from him, Elliot becomes ashamed and afraid because he feels his earlier prison time exposes the bad in him. Paltrow portrays an opportunistic thief with a willingness to lift the jewelry from the dead and a cold-hearted view of men.