A girl named Lydia gives shelter to a young boy who has probably met with an accident. She takes him home for help. However, things change for Lydia as the boy murders her father. Shocked and grief-stricken she runs to the local church.

An unusual American family, on the run arrive to farm the land in England without success. They also fail to integrate. An english youth, an outsider himself, visits his aunt in the nearby village. Over a few days his life unravels and he finds himself alone in the woods, struggling to stay alive. In the crossfire of antagonism between the outreaching Americans and the insular English, his naivety moves from fear to hatred and then sympathy for the hillbilly cause. The animosity between locals and outsiders ignites. The church, MI5, the Sheriff's department, the media, village vigilantes, to name but a few, get hopelessly involved.