Otis is a tough old bird. A product of an abusive father and a mother who never provided any love or affection, he's grown up a loner. Circumstances have placed him in difficult situations, even as a child. As a result, he's become a hard. crusty old man, characteristics that has served him well as a Sheriff.
City officials hire Freddie, a young man fresh out of the Police Academy as his deputy. Idealistic and sensitive, Freddie is shocked by Otis's cavalier attitude, especially over the grizzly death of a well-loved farmer, Clarence Rasmussen. Determined to be the best deputy he can be, Freddie's attitude and decisions change Otis's life in the most unimaginable way.