The Long Hot Summer

Ben Quick, a drifter with a reputation as an arsonist, arrives in a small Mississippi town and is hired by the domineering patriarch, Will Varner. Ben's presence ignites a complex web of desire and resentment. He clashes with Varner's insecure son, Jody, and becomes entangled with both Jody's sultry wife, Eula, and Varner's reserved daughter, Noel. When a local man is murdered, Ben is falsely accused, leading to a lynch mob and a fiery climax that exposes the family's deepest secrets.