- Three radical environmentalists look to execute the protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam.
- Josh and Dena, two young environmental activists, are planning a large scale act to force the world to think about what they're doing to the environment. They pull in Harmon, a man with a sketchy past, to help them pull off their big plan. However, unforeseen consequences bring a whole host of guilt, paranoia and other problems, and their ultimate act will change themselves more than the world around them.—Anne Campbell
- Josh and Dena are part of an environmental group where the thinking is that no one big action will resurrect the environment, and the fight would have to be fought one battle at a time. They believe that the local dam in their community is harming the environment and that would be their contribution to the fight to resurrect nature.
Radical environmentalists Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) buy a boat and tow it long-distance to meet Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard), an ex-Marine. On the way they find a doe dead on the highway due to being hit by a vehicle. Josh stops to inspect the doe and finds the doe pregnant and the baby deer alive inside its body. The three plan to bomb a dam which they believe is harming the environment.
They buy fertilizer of which Harmon has already assembled 1000 pounds of it, but reckons he is 500 pounds short. Harmon wants to purchase the Ammonium-Nitrate fertilizer from a local feed factory. Josh is concerned since any purchase of more than 10 pounds sends major red flags at stores.
Harmon is reluctant to have Dena around, but she paid $10,000 for the boat as part of a deal that she would be around for the explosion. Harmon doesn't trust her. At breakfast the next day, Dena finds out that Harmon is a prior convict, & is angry that Harmon never told them that. She doesn't trust Harmon. Dena plans to tell the feed store clerk that she needs the fertilizer to grow broccoli. Josh suggests that she should say that she has 10 acres of land that she needs to sow.
At the local store, the clerk (James LeGros) refuses to sell Dena 500 pounds of fertilizer without seeing her social ID card. But Harmon asks Dena to keep pushing him, as there is no legal need for Dena to present her social security card to buy fertilizer. Dena goes back into the store and eventually she manages to convince him of her story (she says that the crops are already late and making multiple trips is not possible as she is needed on the farm) and gets the amount required for the bomb.
The trio assemble a bomb and load it onto the boat. All traces of fertilizer are washed off from Josh's pick-up truck. Josh's pick-up truck is used to tow the speed boat to the lake. A rowboat is loaded on to Harmon's truck as that it way they will come back to shore, after placing the bomb loaded speed boat in the right location on the dam lake.
The trio travel to the dam and find a secluded spot in the forest near the lake. They witness firsthand the damage done to the forest from the artificial lake created by the dam.
At night, they take the boat close to the dam structure, arm the bomb, and escape on the rowboat. They have a bit of trouble when a couple has a flat tire on the road just in front of the dam, where they have a clear view of the boat. But eventually, they don't notice the boat, fix the flat and drive off. After the explosion, Harmon says goodbye and drives away. Josh and Dena are stopped by the police but evade suspicion even though Josh's boots were wet.
Josh returns to the farm where he lives and works. The other people living on the farm discuss the explosion; the media reports that a man who was camping near the dam is missing. The farm people also discuss that the river had many other dams on it and the loss of one dam is not going to mean anything at all. For any meaningful damage to the local economy, almost 10-12 dams would have to be destroyed.
Harmon calls Josh and tells him that Dena is worried. Concerned that she will go to the police, Josh agrees to talk to her. Dena admits her feelings of guilt and, when pressed by Josh, she does not rule out talking to the police. Later, Harmon tells Josh that Dena needs to be silenced.
The other people living on the farm suspect Josh of involvement with the bombing and ask him to leave. Dena had called one of the girls on the farm and talked, not revealing anything but putting enough doubt in the mind about Josh's involvement in the events at the dam. He then learns that the missing man was found dead after drowning in the flood caused by the explosion. Knowing that Dena will talk to the police, he surprises Dena at the spa where she works; he tries to warn her not to talk, but she attacks him and runs. He finds her hiding in one of the saunas, where he strangles her to death.
Josh calls Harmon in tears to tell him that Dena is dead. Harmon tells Josh to disappear, and to never contact him again. Josh destroys his phone, then drives to a camping supplies store, where he applies for a job.
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