曾经,为了实现自己的理想和包袱,布拉德沃斯(方·基默 Val Kilmer 饰)选择抛弃了妻子茱莉亚(弗兰西丝·康罗伊 Frances Conroy 饰)和三儿孩子沃伦、博伊德(德怀特·尤科姆 Dwight Yoakam 饰)、布拉迪(W·厄尔·布朗 W. Earl Brown 饰),丈夫离开带给茱莉亚的打击实在是太大了,茱莉亚患上了精神分裂症。 一晃眼几十年过去,布拉德沃斯功成名就成为了知名的蓝调音乐人,他返回了家乡,发现自己的三个儿子对自己恨之入骨。在这里,布拉德沃斯结识了名为弗雷明(里斯·汤普森 Reece Thompson 饰)的少年,一老一少之间竟然建立起了真挚的友谊,然而,布拉德沃斯并不知道,弗雷明其实是他的孙子。E.F. Bloodworth has returned to his home - a forgotten corner of Tennessee - after forty years of roaming. The wife he walked out on has withered and faded, his three sons are grown and angry. Warren is a womanizing alcoholic, Boyd is driven by jealousy to hunt down his wife and her lover, and Brady puts hexes on his enemies from his mamma's porch. Only Fleming, the old man's grandson, treats him with the respect his age commands, and sees past all the hatred to realize the way it can poison a man's soul. It is ultimately the love of Raven Lee, a sloe-eyed beauty from another town, that gives Fleming the courage to reject this family curse.