Valley

Derik, 8, and his younger brother Hatch are out climbing trees when suddenly a branch gives way and Derik falls to the ground, badly injuring his leg. Hatch stays with his brother until their mother comes looking for them. She hurries Derik and Hatch into her rig and toward the hospital when she's stopped by her husband, Buckner, the local sheriff. Buckner doesn't believe that it's God's will for Derik to get help, he believes he was meant to fall. He cuts the tires on Diane's car and forces Derik to rely on his brother to walk home. 10 years later, Derik has a terrible limp and his relationship with his father has never repaired, so he's been living with his grandfather, Mike. Buckner has put all his hopes and his pressure on Hatch, who is pitching for the high school baseball team Buckner coaches. After a loss, Buckner forces Hatch to walk home, then makes him agree to pitch in the next game with the season on the line, despite not having enough time to rest. Buckner pays a visit to a local mother Cheryl who has a newborn and a toddler, the father of whom, Shane, is currently in jail for another month. When he finds the infant slumped over dead in a highchair, Buckner is deeply rattled and takes matters into his own hands. Cheryl goes out to the river and Buckner holds her underwater until she, too, is dead. Derik, having witnessed the murder his father committed, strikes a relationship up with Shane and encourages him to be a good dad to his remaining child, knowing the damage it can do to have an abusive parent. Shane's struggling, but, eventually, he hears Derik's encouragement and commits himself to giving his son whatever he can. After losing the game and not getting the chance to go to Nationals, Hatch has become something of a pariah at school, with the other members upset about not moving on in the competition and one in particular, Brian, upset about not being able to impress colleges and get out of this town. Brian uses the girl that Hatch has a crush on, Brooke, to trick Hatch into attending a pep rally where Brian and the other teammates jump him. Seeing his brother hurt breaks something in Derik. He decides that he can't take this anymore. He takes his grandfather's gun and makes his way to the high school. After shooting Brian and the principal, Buckner is sent in to confront his son. Buckner pleads with Derik, trying to get him to see a different way that things could go, but it's too late. Derik asks his father why he couldn't just be his dad. Buckner snaps that he can't because he has to be God, revealing the immense amount of pressure he puts himself under. Derik is fatally shot by a sniper. Having lost his son and understanding that heis not and will never be God, Bucker takes his as life at the tree shown in the opening scene. Diane and Hatch set fire to their home, leaving it all in the past, and set off together, onto a new life.