The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At
the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose, the
widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter. Phil behaves so
cruelly he drives them both to tears, revelling in their hurt and rousing
his fellow cowhands to laughter – all except his brother George, who
comforts Rose then returns to marry her.
As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an
eerie form – he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can
no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the
cheering of Phil’s cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy
under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil
exposed, or a plot twisting further into menace?
