Tom, Lou, and Mitchell are playing poker at Lou's bar. A man enters and asks to be served. When Mitchell tells him to leave because the bar is closed, the man threatens him and angrily leaves. The man returns and shoots Lou, Mitchell, and Tom. The next morning Sam wakes up after dreaming about his former days as a bull rider. He starts his morning at the motel by reading about the shootings in the paper and then responding to a disturbance in room 128. Sam politely and shyly asks the tenant to quiet down, only to have the door shut in his face. Later that day, Tom's wife, Bernadette, goes on the porch during a gathering for her deceased husband and asks Sam if he can come by to no avail. Sam has trouble lifting his right arm and walks with a limp due to injuries suffered from bull riding. Bernadette, ignoring Sam's earlier wish, wakes Sam in the middle of the night for sex to which he obliges. They discuss whether Tom is in heaven or hell and Sam seems regretful of his relationship with Bernadette. Upon leaving the next morning, Bernadette picks up the picture Sam laid down. The photo is of a woman and a young girl.
Lila meets the man who shot Mitchell, her husband, and asks why he killed Tom and Lou instead of only killing Mitchell as planned. Showing no remorse, he blames her for the circumstances because Mitchell didn't leave the bar as she said he would. The man then tells her she should be celebrating because Mitchell has been killed as she wanted. He asks about his payment, and Lila tells him she will have it by the end of the week after she meets with Mitchell's lawyer. Lila tells the man she wanted Mitchell dead because he'd been unfaithful. Upon visiting Mitchell's lawyer, Lila learns that Mitchell was bankrupt, had lied about his life-insurance policies, and was being sued by former business partners. The bank now owns her home and there is no money. Mitchell's killer later approaches Sam at the motel and introduces himself as Elwood. He extends his stay at the motel and begins giving Sam praise as a famous bull rider. He tells Sam that his father was a huge fan of Sam and would have loved to meet him but he's now deceased. Sam befriends Elwood, and they go to a local diner where Sam talks about his health and why he shakes. Sam seems puzzled when Elwood tells him about his mother's death and how his father was absent due to incarceration. Elwood says his father died in a prison riot in 1996 and shows a strong disdain for him. Elwood asks Sam if he has a girlfriend, and Sam admits he does. When Lila enters the diner after riding with Bernadette to get milkshakes, Sam calls her over to the table and introduces her to Elwood. Taken aback, she pretends not to know Elwood before quickly leaving. Later that night, on the way home from Bernadette's house, Lila is followed by Elwood but is able to evade him.
After a phone call with his mother, Elwood becomes enraged and instigates a fight with two men. After calling Lila and leaving her a threatening voicemail, he violently beats the two men before leaving. Later that night, Lila receives the threatening voicemail and tries to run away from home, but is attacked by Elwood. He demands payment, and again she tells him she can get the money. Satisfied, he leaves and meets with Paul to enlist his services to do a job to which Paul agrees. Sam leaves Maggie's basketball game to spend the night with Bernadette. Once Sam has left her home, Elwood and Paul approach the house while she is in the bathtub. Hearing a noise, Bernadette goes to investigate and is chased by Paul while Elwood breaks into a wall safe. She stabs and kills Paul and is chased by Elwood. He subdues and nearly shoots Bernadette when he notices Sam's hat on the counter. Elwood takes the money from the safe and leaves.
Upon returning to the motel, Sam finds a tenant complaining about the noise in room 128. Sam knocks on the door and begins fighting with the tenant. However, his condition prevents him from throwing a punch and he is then overpowered and left lying in the rain. Sam recovers enough to go to Bernadette's home where he learns about the break-in. Elwood, who was injured in the struggle with Bernadette, tries sneaking out the next morning but is stopped by Sam who merely wants to say goodbye. However, Sam notices that Elwood is bleeding and realizes he is the one who robbed Bernadette. Elwood chases Sam into an occupied motel room, shooting the tenant in the process. Elwood searches the room but finds that Sam has escaped through the bathroom window. Sam then runs to the motel office to grab his grandfather's gun and tells Elwood to stay until the police arrive. Elwood refuses claiming that they are "square", a reference to him letting Bernadette live. Elwood attempts to get in his car to flee, but Sam shoots and kills him. The police go through Elwood's belongings and find Lila's name and phone number. She is arrested and the final shot is of Bernadette cutting Sam's hair while he thinks about his riding accident.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 57 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Smart and well-acted, Sweet Virginia delivers a tense, atmospheric thriller that transcends genre conventions even as it embraces them."[2]
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