A man named Keith from New Mexico is meeting his girlfriend Nicolle's family for the first time in southern Alabama. Nicolle's brother Dub is a troublemaker 18-year-old who takes Keith swimming with snakes. Dub asks Keith at dinner if he gambles, to which Kieth replies that he does not. Keith does in fact gamble, which is not his only secret. A few years prior, he hit a young girl while driving and did not stop. Now, Keith feels as though he is in a waiting game to see when justice will be delivered to him.

Keith asks for Nicolle's hand in marriage a few months/years later, and the two get engaged. They move to a suburb in Knoxville, where the neighbor lets his dog poop on their lawn, but Keith is scared to confront him. Dub calls several times asking for money. Nicolle has several miscarriages until she finally becomes pregnant. While Nicolle is pregnant, her family comes to visit. Nicolle's father sees the neighbor's dog poop on their driveway, and decides to poison it. Nicolle has the baby, who they name Emma. When Emma is eight months old, Keith is traveling for work and hears people at a poker game talking about a guy named Dub who owed money to the wrong people. A few weeks later, Dub rolls his truck and gets injured when he drives drunk and without a seatbelt. Two months later, Dub comes to the house. He has lost weight and is shaking. He says that he is in trouble and needs to stay out of Alabama. Nicolle and Keith agree that he can stay for two weeks, although Keith knows Nicolle will never kick him out. A month later, Keith is traveling for work when he gets a call from Nicolle. She says that there are two men at the house, and that something is not right. Keith tells Nicolle to get Emma and the gun from their room. He tells her to load the gun like they practiced, which she does. She yells downstairs that she has a gun, and Keith tells her to shoot if they open the door. He hangs up and dials 911, when he remembers that the safety is on in the gun. Keith calls the house multiple times, but nobody answers. He screams safety into the phone over and over, hoping that Nicolle will hear.