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A BRAND TOO DEEP

A BRAND TOO DEEP
By Johnathan Corley

GENRE: Western, Thriller / Suspense
LOGLINE:

Three estranged sisters, running a multiracial LGBTQ-friendly ranch in rural America, must fight back with brutal force when a hate-fueled family connected to one of their own unleashes terror on their land—burning their legacy, killing their friends, and forcing them to become the monsters the world already believes them to be.

SYNOPSIS:

A wildfire tears through Whitlow Ranch, leaving patriarch Clayton dead and his daughters — Tawny, Stormy, and Ruby Jean — to shoulder the family legacy. Tawny and Stormy run the ranch with help from their extended, diverse community: the Montoyas, gay couple Sawyer and Derek, and Stormy’s new partner Langston. Ruby Jean, however, is bound to her domineering husband Presley Cain, heir to a powerful neighboring clan.

As the sisters struggle to hold the ranch together, ominous events escalate: a mutilated guard dog, poisoned cattle, mounting financial pressure when the bank demands $149,000 in back payments, and a violent confrontation at a rodeo where Presley’s family unleashes racist and homophobic slurs.

The Whitlows’ solidarity begins to fray. Ruby Jean insists Presley can “help” by buying the ranch or lending money, sparking bitter fights with her sisters. Meanwhile, Presley trespasses on their land, abuses Ruby Jean behind closed doors, and orchestrates intimidation with his cousins.

Tensions explode when Langston, Soledad, Sawyer, and the baby are ambushed and vanish, deepening the sense of siege. Ruby Jean returns to her sisters battered, confessing Presley struck her, but she remains emotionally tethered to him. The Whitlows and their found family bury poisoned cattle in mass graves and brace themselves, knowing the Cain family is circling closer.

The story spirals into a modern Western thriller: a family fighting not just for their ranch, but for their survival and identity, as loyalty, love, and bloodlines are tested against greed, violence, and generational hate.

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