Deadline is the story of the murder of an African American youth in rural Alabama that has gone uninvestigated, unsolved, and unpunished for almost twenty years. That changes when Nashville Times reporter Matt Harper (Steve Talley) meets an idealistic young blueblood bent on discovering the truth. Harper undertakes the investigation despite the opposition of his publisher, violent threats from mysterious forces, a break-up with his fiancée, and his father's cancer diagnosis.

Fifteen years ago, Edwin went to clown camp to fulfill his lifelong dream of bringing laughter to the world... but nobody laughed. Humiliated on graduation night, Edwin viciously murdered the entire camp before vanishing into legend. Now, despite the warnings of the town drunk, old man Bonzo has reopened the ranch and a new class of clowns have unwittingly signed up. When their die-hard instructor Sgt. Funnybone (Miguel Martinez, The Donor Conspiracy) is found dead in a puddle of cream pie and blood, the curriculum changes from comedy to survival! Edwin slashes, stabs, strangles, and disembowels the clowns while laughing insanely at his own bad jokes.

When reporter Jean Craddock interviews Bad Blake—an alcoholic, seen-better-days country music legend—they connect, and the hard-living crooner sees a possible saving grace in a life with Jean and her young son.