SYNOPSIS:

Somewhere in 1855 Missouri, fourteen year old Jonathan Joel is woken from a nightmare by his angelic, calloused looking mother. He admits to dreaming he was drowning in a river, then falls asleep to see a rider wearing white and black sprint toward him. The world quakes violently as the dream ends and he’s reawakened to his mother being beaten by his father. She’s strangled while Jon grabs his father’s sawed-off shotgun, but he can’t bring himself to shoot and she dies in the father’s grip. He laments and holds her close before again taking aim at the father. The two stare each other down and the scene fades to black. Now in 1870, a fully grown Joel joins his gang in Bleakbellow, consisting of Tatum Brooks, Teddy Bascom, and brothers Harvey and Dutch Scarborough. The gang rob and burn the saloon before riding to the next town. The following morning, outlaw Canton McCauley (wearing white and black) arrives and inspects the place, spying the trail left by Joel as the scene ends. As this occurs, Joel is woken by a bounty hunter looking to take him in. Joel kills him, bearing signs of PTSD, and is only calmed after drinking from his flask. He takes the man’s ammo, guns, water, and horse after shooting his own (its leg having been broken). He also takes a wanted poster for outlaw Wesley Dunn before leaving on horseback. Joel and Bascom locate Dunn's hideout and take him captive before McCauley enters and kills the latter two, holding Joel at gunpoint. He binds Joel to the wall and tortures him, then leaves with Bascom and Dunn’s bodies, promising to return. Joel partially frees himself and crawls away. This transitions to a flashback where fourteen year old Jon crawls away after the deaths of his parents, meeting McCauley for the first time. When the flashback ends, Joel is on the outskirts of Glasgow where the rest of the gang are waiting. McCauley collects the bounties on Dunn and Bascom and returns to the hideout where he finds Joel gone. He enters Glasgow just as Joel and the gang are leaving, then enters the bar and forms a thirty man posse, offering them shares of the bounties in return for Joel dead. They enter Angel’s Gulch and plunder away, burning the town to the ground. The gang finds the remains the next morning, spurring Harvey and Dutch to split from the others in order to cover more ground, despite Joel’s and Brooks’ demands. While camped, McCauley infatuates a young member of his posse (the kid) with a tale of his survival at the hands of Comanche warriors, all the while Joel rediscovers his childhood home, finding a man, woman, and child shot dead on the floor. He downs his flask and leaves an emotional wreck. Joel and Brooks catch up to the brothers and save a ten year old boy from their wrath. Brooks reprimands the pair for sinking so low while Joel stares at the mother and father, unconscious by their wagon. Afterward, Brooks tells Joel he’s going to mail some letters when they enter Lordsburg before scolding him for leading the gang on his crusade against McCauley. Joel argues that McCauley deserves his fate, to which Brooks replies, “So do we, Jon.” They get to Lordsburg and Brooks mails his letters. As he does, Joel spies a cloud of smoke at the opposite end of town and investigates, finding McCauley and the posse burning down the Sheriff's. They exchange shots before Joel takes solace in the Doctor’s office. McCauley lights the place on fire, trying to smoke him out, but the gang breaks through and escapes with Joel in tow, though not before McCauley shoots Dutch in the calf as they ride away. Joel amputates the leg from the knee down, but the wound still gets infected. He’s forced to shoot Dutch in an act of mercy, the next morning. We enter another flashback, this time of Joel and Brooks’ first encounter. Brooks is bought by McCauley at a slave auction, which is interrupted by his lover, Saundra. She’s beaten and taken away while Brooks struggles against his restraints, trying desperately to help her before being knocked out by his new owner. Joel watches the proceedings with pity and regret. He teases involvement, but ultimately does nothing to help. In present time, the gang watches the posse from a perch. Harvey leads them to a canyon-like piece of land where they intercept the posse and deplete most of their numbers by using dynamite. Joel and Brooks escape, but Harvey’s captured and tortured to death by McCauley who takes his head and last stick of dynamite. McCauley and the posse chase Joel and Brooks through the wilderness, stretching several days and nights. The two finally take shelter in Bleakbellow as a last resort, ready for a stand. The posse arrives and Joel and Brooks fire on them from a second story window, taking them by surprise. McCauley runs to cover while the kid enters from the back and exchanges shots with the pair. McCauley throws in a stick of dynamite, killing the kid and collapsing the structure in the process. Joel enters a fist and knife fight with McCauley and stabs him to exhaustion, finishing the job with his father’s sawed-off shotgun. Brooks rises from the rubble, relatively unhurt. He tells Joel of Saundra’s idea to move to Kansas and offers him a place to live, but is declined. However, he does say which county to find them in, should he change his mind. Brooks rides off, leaving Joel to lie in the destruction and stare into his half full, half empty bottle of whiskey. He marries Saundra and the two buy a patch of land together. Working in the field one day, Brooks looks to the horizon and sees a man riding toward him, though he can’t make out who it is. He frowns slightly as we cut back to Bleakbellow and hold on Joel’s bottle, still half full, half empty, sitting amongst the ruins under a setting, crimson sun.

RED SUNSET