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Longtime actor/songwriter Kris Kristofferson stars as a whiskey-smuggling schemer desperate to preserve his endangered cattle herd in director Jay Craven's adaptation of Howard Frank Mosher's best-selling novel. The year is 1932; Prohibition is still in place, and smuggling whiskey has long been a profitable tradition in the Bonhomme family. When the coming winter threatens to decimate Quebec Bill Bonhomme's (Kristofferson) cattle heard and render his family destitute, the desperate dreamer and reluctant whiskey runner finally decides to carry on the family tradition. With his 14-year-old son, Wild Bill (Charlie McDermott), in tow, Quebec Bill sets out on a wild ride through Vermont's sprawling Northeast Kingdom that will expose the age-old mysteries of the Bonhomme family to the cold light of winter, and serve as an unforgettable rite of passage for the young adolescent currently teetering on the cusp of manhood.