| Director | James Marsh |
|---|
Between 1890 and 1900 in northern Wisconsin, a series of bizarre events begin to occur amongst the local population (largely German, Swedish, and Norwegian immigrants) after the closure of several mines in the area; these events happened in conjunction with a collapse of the local economy and liquidation of banks. Several infants are abandoned by their parents, while a diphtheria epidemic claims the lives of numerous children. A local schoolteacher, Mary Sweeny, is institutionalized after going on a rampage breaking the windows of numerous homes and buildings while under the influence of cocaine. Meanwhile, a young deaf and mute boy shoots his little sister to death with a pistol. The wife of a German immigrant is mysteriously found frozen to death six miles outside of Black River Falls, after mourning the death of her own child.
In Brandon, two young boys ambush a farmer and murder him with a shotgun before taking over his home. The elder brother, John, flees after the crime is discovered, and a manhunt ensues. Once captured, John is sentenced to life imprisonment. Meanwhile, a Norwegian teenage girl commits suicide by drowning herself in a lake near Kenosha; her suicide note reveals she was physically abused and over-worked by her parents. Several other young jilted lovers commit suicide by hanging and other methods. Anna, a young Polish girl, is discovered to be a serial arsonist responsible for burning multiple properties down.
Numerous young adults in the region face a number of turmoils, and commit violent acts of varying degrees: A father bludgeons his infant son to death before attempting to murder his wife, and later, a young man shoots a woman to death when she refuses his marriage proposal, before turning the gun on himself. Religious delusion also plagues the local communities: John Isaacson holds the members of a Christian meeting at knifepoint, believing himself to be vanquishing Satan. Shortly after, a German immigrant intentionally starves his livestock to death, and blames it on witches he believes are preying upon him. Mrs. Dutton, of La Crosse, believes herself to be Jesus reincarnated, and a Mrs. Lawson, believing herself to be haunted by Satan, drowns her three children in a lake in St. Croix.
In Brockway, a woman claiming to be a world-renowned French opera singer named Pauline L'Allemand arrives from Chicago to claim a land she has allegedly inherited. With her son, Edgar, she builds a home and stages a series of live performances that are compromised by her false teeth. Her disheveled state leads locals to believe she may be an imposter. Pauline's mental state deteriorates, and she begins hearing voices and claiming to be in communion with spirits. After Edgar steals cement to repair their dilapidating house, the two are put on trial, during which Pauline engages in incoherent rants and espouses anti-Catholic conspiracy theories, leading her to be declared legally insane and institutionalized at Mendota Hospital.
While numerous business ventures collapse in tandem with the economy, adulterous affairs amongst the region's middle-aged residents lead to further violence and murder. A tramp murders several servant girls while attempting to commit robbery before killing himself. Meanwhile, Mary Sweeny is released from the psychiatric hospital, and continues to travel aimlessly throughout the region, committing further destruction of windows, including at an Eau Claire train station. Pauline L'Allemande eventually escapes from Mendota and disappears. She resurfaces later in Chicago, and claims to have been tormented in Mendota by a ventriloquist performing acts in the room next to hers.
A number of contemporary events from the mid-to-late-20th century are juxtaposed against those of the 1890s, including the crimes of Wisconsin natives Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer.