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Brimstone
The plot consists of four acts, which are presented in anachronic order. The chronological order is Acts 3 (Genesis), 2 (Exodus), 1 (Revelation), and 4 (Retribution). So, after the first act, Revelation, the following acts are what happened before and the fourth act is chronologically the last.
1. Revelation Elizabeth "Liz" Brundy lives in the Old West with her husband Eli and their two children: Matthew, Eli's son from a previous marriage, and daughter Samantha, called Sam.
Liz works as a midwife who can hear but is mute, and so communicates through sign language. One day, a new Preacher, known as "The Reverend", hosts a session at the local church, and the moment that Liz hears his voice, she seems to recognize him and is terrified by his appearance. Later that day, Liz is forced to choose between delivering a baby safely or saving its mother; she chooses to euthanise the baby and save the mother, without telling her until after the procedure is finished. Afterwards, Nathan, the husband of the formerly-pregnant woman, blames Liz. That night, Nathan drunkenly shows up at Eli and Liz's house, violent and threatening; Nathan claims Liz is responsible for his son's death. In the middle of the fight, the Reverend shows up and tells him to leave. He then goes into Eli's house and has a mysterious talk with Liz, saying she is guilty of the murder of Nathan's son and must be "punished". As Eli overhears some of the conversation, the Reverend leaves the house. Eli's sheep are found dead the next morning, and he seeks out Nathan, who has since disappeared. Liz later sneaks off at night to murder the Reverend, but finds her daughter's doll in the Reverend's bed instead. Meanwhile, the Reverend disembowels Eli, and leaves him to die. As he succumbs to his wounds, Eli tells Matthew to take the family up into the mountains to his father, before the boy mercy kills him. Liz and the children flee the farm.
2. Exodus A young girl named Joanna, walking through the desert, is picked up and nursed by a traveling Chinese family. In the mining town of Bismuth, Joanna is sold to a brothel owned by Frank. She is protected by Sally, a prostitute, until Sally is hanged for shooting a violent customer; another prostitute, Elizabeth, then protects Joanna in the aftermath of Sally's hanging. However, when Elizabeth bites the tongue of an abusive customer, her tongue is cut off as punishment. Joanna teaches Elizabeth sign language from a book the doctor gave her. Elizabeth plans to sneak out of Bismuth to start a new life, and arranges through a marriage broker to marry Eli. The Reverend comes to the brothel, recognizes Joanna, and proceeds to violently attack her. Elizabeth tries to save Joanna but is murdered by the Reverend with Joanna slashing his throat in retaliation. She runs away, cutting off her own tongue and taking Elizabeth's place with Eli.
3. Genesis In the desert, two badly wounded men, Samuel and Wolf, are the last survivors in a dispute over gold that has left several other men dead. They depart on a single horse.
Joanna lives with her mother, Anna, and father, revealed to be the Reverend himself. He is strictly religious and is often cruel and abusive towards his family. Samuel and Wolf collapse at the farm and Joanna secretly cares for them. Anna confronts the Reverend when she realizes he lusts after their daughter, so he beats and humiliates her by placing a scold's bridle on her head. In response, Anna commits suicide in full view of the church congregation. The next day the Reverend takes Joanna to church and starts to perform a wedding ceremony between himself and his daughter. Samuel tries to rescue her, but the Reverend murders him. Her father whips Joanna and rapes her. In the morning she runs off.
4. Retribution Matthew is shot by the Reverend as he follows Liz to her father-in-law's place in the mountains. He murders her father-in-law and tells Liz he will beat and rape her daughter, but Liz murders him instead. Sometime later, after Liz has turned Eli's place into a sawmill, Nathan arrives to arrest her. The Reverend had sent him to Bismuth where he became a deputy and then sheriff. Having found a wanted poster of Elizabeth Brundy (the woman without a tongue who killed Frank before she saved Liz/Joanna), Nathan has come to arrest her (Liz). As Nathan is escorting her onto a ferry, with a last look at her daughter playing on the shore, Liz throws herself in the lake and drowns. Her daughter Sam, now a grown woman with a child of her own, remembers her well.