James Coburn won an Academy Award for his performance as an abusive father in this high-tension thriller. Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte) is a small-town cop struggling to scrape together a living with a series of menial jobs, trying to provide a solid moral ground for his daughter and attempting to escape from the influence of his bullying alcoholic father (Coburn). When a wealthy visitor is killed whilst hunting deer, Wade sees the investigation as a chance of redemption. But his clumsy search for the truth only leads him further into danger.