When Sheriff Shelby Hines discovers a mutilated corpse in a drug dealer's trailer in the mountains, he doesn't expect the overdosed addict to be his own nephew. The opium epidemic in Shel's area has run rampant in recent years, frequently claiming lives and overwhelming hospital staff. Only a few days later, Shel's wife complains of heart pain, but the doctors are too busy trying to save an overdosing druggie to prevent the heart attack that takes her life in only hours. Shel becomes fueled by rage and grief, determined to put an end to the drug dealing he views as responsible for his wife and nephew's deaths. He interrogates drug addicts constantly, hearing the same name come up each time - a drug dealer known only as "hellbender." Finally, he breaks through when he finds two addicts in a trailer, one dying from an overdose and the other sobbing relentlessly. He offers to administer an injection that can save overdosing addicts, but only if the other addict tells him where he can find Hellbender. Horrified yet desperate, the addict tells Shel that Hellbender holes up in the very same trailer where Shel's nephew died. Shel takes up a rifle with the serial number scratched off, removes his badge, and heads up the mountain to get justice beyond the law. He discovers a scrawny kid in the trailer who confirms his identity as Hellbender. The kid agrees Shel should shoot him, but only after he digs up a stash of money he wants to give to his estranged sister. Shel reluctantly agrees, realizing as Hellbender digs that he cannot kill him. Hellbender pulls a gun from the buried money and shoots Shel instead. Shel requests he be buried at the edge of a cliff, facing the setting sun, and Hellbender moves him to his final resting spot. As the sun sets, Shel quietly slips away.