During
World War II, while serving in the
Solomon Islands,
U.S. Marine Willard Russell and his patrol find
Gunnery Sergeant Miller Jones skinned and
crucified by
Japanese soldiers. As the patrol examines his dog tag, Jones becomes conscious. Knowing that he will not survive, Willard shoots Jones in the head to
end his agony. After the war, on his way home to Coal Creek,
West Virginia, Willard passes through
Meade, Ohio, where he meets Charlotte, a waitress at a diner, and a photographer named Carl Henderson. Willard and Charlotte marry and move to
Knockemstiff, Ohio, where they have a son named Arvin. In 1950, Helen Hatton—whom Willard’s mother, Emma, wanted him to marry—marries Roy Laferty. Roy is a bizarre, albeit charismatic,
evangelical preacher who pours venomous spiders over his head while giving sermons to demonstrate his faith in God. Helen and Roy have a daughter named Lenora. During a sermon, Roy is bitten by a spider on his face and has a severe allergic reaction that affects his grip on reality, coming to believe that he can resurrect the dead. After Helen drops off Lenora at Emma's home, Roy takes Helen out to the woods and stabs her in the neck with a screwdriver. He then tries and fails to resurrect her. A distraught Roy hitchhikes and is picked up by photographer Carl Henderson and his wife Sandy, who met at the same time and place Willard and Charlotte did. Carl and Sandy are revealed to be
serial killers who pick up male hitchhikers, encourage them to have sex with Sandy while Carl takes photographs, then murder them. Roy refuses to have sex with Sandy, but Carl kills him anyway. In 1957, Willard erects a wooden
cross in the woods behind his family home, where he makes Arvin pray daily by kneeling at their "prayer log," a fallen tree at its base. Later, Charlotte is diagnosed with cancer. Willard believes he can influence God with fervent prayer to remove the cancer from his wife's body. He prays to God and sacrifices Arvin's dog as an offering, crucifying its body at the prayer log. Despite his efforts, Charlotte dies. Devastated, Willard commits
suicide by slitting his throat at the base of the rustic cross. Arvin discovers his father's body beneath the rotting corpse of his dog, and later leads
Sheriff Lee Bodecker, the corrupt brother of Sandy Henderson, to the scene. Arvin goes to live with his grandmother Emma in Coal Creek, who has also adopted Lenora. In 1965, Arvin—now a young adult working manual jobs around town— receives Willard's Luger from his uncle as a birthday present. He is fiercely protective of high school-aged Lenora, who is bullied by some local
greasers. One day, their harassment pushes Arvin to attack them mercilessly. The pious Lenora grows close to the new,
self-righteous Reverend Preston Teagardin, whom Arvin resents for previously ridiculing Emma. Reverend Preston
grooms Lenora, eventually sexually assaulting her and she becomes pregnant. When she informs Preston, he rejects her. Overwhelmed by the bullying and her pregnancy, Lenora considers hanging herself. Right before she does, she changes her mind but ends up accidentally hanging herself. After the autopsy, Arvin is told that she was pregnant. Stalking Preston, he sees him grooming another girl and deduces that Preston was the father. Confronting him alone at the church, Arvin shoots and kills Preston with the Luger before fleeing. Arvin decides to drive back to his childhood home in Knockemstiff, his car breaks down however and he ultimately decides to hitchhike there instead. He is picked up by Carl and Sandy, whose relationship has become acrimonious. Upon noticing Carl's gun and realizing the Hendersons' ill intentions, Arvin kills the couple in
self-defense. Afterwards, Arvin searches the car and finds evidence of the Henderson's serial killings, taking some of it with him. When Lee finds out that Carl and Sandy were murdered, he goes to their apartment and burns Carl's photo collection to protect himself and his upcoming re-election campaign. While investigating their deaths, Lee concludes that Arvin was responsible. He tracks him to Willard's cross, where Arvin has gone to bury his dog. As Arvin places the bones in the ground beneath the prayer log, Lee arrives and attempts to kill Arvin with a shotgun. A shootout ensues and Arvin shoots Lee in the chest. As the sheriff dies, Arvin explains his actions and plants the evidence of Carl and Sandy's killings on Lee's body so that their crimes will be revealed. Arvin then places Willard's Luger in the hole with bones and buries them. As Preston's death is also uncovered, Arvin hitchhikes out of the area with a
hippie headed to
Cincinnati. As they drive off, Arvin falls asleep and contemplates his future, which he imagines will be very similar to Willard's. ==Cast==