| Director | Sam Raimi |
|---|---|
| Genre | crime film, drama film, film based on a novel, neo-noir |
| Runtime | 121 min |
| Country | France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States |
| Budget | $17 million |
| Box office | $16.3 million |
Hank is an accountant at a feed mill in Wright County, Minnesota with a pregnant wife, Sarah. After visiting their parents graves on New Year's Eve, Hank, his simpleminded brother Jacob, and Jacob's friend Lou Chambers stumble upon a crashed airplane in the woods. Inside is a dead man and a bag containing $4.4 million in $100 bills. Lou and Jacob persuade Hank not to turn the money in, so he proposes keeping the money at his house until the snow melts and the plane is found. If the missing money goes unnoticed, they will split it between them and leave town. Seeing their truck on the side of the road, Sheriff Carl Jenkins stops by to help, and Jacob blurts out a mention of the plane. When Carl leaves, the three men make a pact to keep the secret, but Hank later tells Sarah.
Sarah suggests Hank replace $500,000 of the money to avoid suspicion when the plane is found, but says not to tell the others. Hank makes an excuse for Jacob to take him back to the crash site, and surreptitiously returns some cash while Jacob stays by his station wagon pretending to fix a flat tire. Farmer Dwight Stephanson happens by on a snowmobile. Thinking their cover is blown, Jacob bludgeons Dwight with a tire iron. Believing Dwight is dead, and wanting to protect his brother, Hank gets on the snowmobile to take it to a hiding place for the body, but Dwight comes to and tells Hank that Jacob attacked him. Hank suffocates him before staging an accident where it appears Dwight had driven his snowmobile off an embankment.
Having learned from Jacob about Dwight's murder, Lou drunkenly demands his portion of the money from Hank and insinuates that he might go to the authorities otherwise. Sarah later gives birth to her daughter Amanda.
Sarah learns that the money was a ransom for a kidnapped heiress, who was killed by her kidnappers in December. She convinces Hank to frame Lou for Dwight's murder by getting him drunk, tricking him into falsely confessing to the killing, and recording the confession. Though Jacob frightens Hank by seeming to go against him, the two acquire Lou's confession. When he realizes he has been duped, Lou pulls a gun on Hank and a shootout ensues, with Jacob shooting Lou dead. Lou's wife Nancy shoots at Hank, and he shoots back, killing her. Hank and Jacob call the police and say the deaths were a domestic quarrel turned murder-suicide. Jacob, deeply tormented by the things he and Hank have done, begins to have misgivings.
Carl calls in the brothers to answer questions from FBI Agent Neil Baxter, who is searching for the plane. Fed up with the pressure and his own guilt, Hank plans to return all the money to the plane, but is stopped after Sarah confronts him about their lack of prospects and meager lifestyle. As Hank meets Carl and Baxter to begin the search, Sarah discovers Baxter is actually one of the kidnappers posing as an FBI agent to find the money, and alerts Hank, who steals a revolver from Carl's office. The four men split up in the woods to search for the plane. When Carl finds it, Hank tries to warn him about Baxter, but Baxter kills Carl before he can react. Baxter demands Hank retrieve the money from the plane, presuming he is unarmed; Hank shoots a distracted Baxter dead after retrieving the $500,000 from the plane.
Hank starts to concoct another story to tell the authorities, but Jacob balks, saying he cannot live with all that they have done. He proposes that Hank kill him and frame Baxter for his death. When Hank refuses, Jacob puts a pistol to his own head. Realizing he cannot avoid it, Hank kills Jacob with Baxter's gun.
Hank is cleared of wrongdoing by real FBI agents, who reveal that they had recorded the serial numbers of some of the ransom bills, which, if spent, will lead them to the culprit eventually. He returns home and burns the money as Sarah protests and begs him not to.