Q&A USA

In West Texas, divorced father Toby Howard (Chris Pine) and his ex-con brother Tanner (Ben Foster) carry out early morning robberies of two branches of the Texas Midlands Bank. Though the robberies are well-planned, Tanner's wild nature leads to him taking unnecessary risks, frustrating Toby.

Two Texas Rangers, Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), are on the case. Hamilton, who is close to retirement, quickly determines the brothers' methods and personalities. Meanwhile, Tanner robs another bank while Toby unknowingly waits at a nearby diner. They take the stolen money to an Indian casino in Oklahoma to be laundered. They exchange the stolen bills for chips, some of which Tanner uses to gamble. Toby then has the casino convert them into a check made out to the Texas Midlands Bank – the same bank they robbed. With untraceable funds and gambling as a cover for how they were acquired, the brothers head back to Texas.

It is revealed that the brothers' mother died recently, leaving their ranch in debt due to a reverse mortgage provided by the Texas Midlands Bank. If the debt is not paid off in a few days, the ranch will be foreclosed. Toby is determined to pay off the mortgage to ensure a comfortable life for his estranged sons because oil has recently been discovered on their land. They rob Texas Midlands as a form of frontier justice. It is also revealed that Tanner shot and killed their abusive father.

Hamilton stakes out another branch of the Texas Midlands Bank, but the brothers don't show. Hamilton figures a pattern to the robberies and determines their next target. Hamilton and Parker are en route when the final robbery indeed occurs there. Pressed for time, the brothers proceed with the heist even though the bank is full of customers. A shoot-out ensues when a security guard and an armed civilian fire at the brothers and Tanner kills the guard and the civilian, but Toby is shot in the hip.

The brothers race out of town, with a posse of armed townspeople in pursuit. After gaining some distance, Tanner stops and fires an automatic rifle at the posse, forcing them to retreat. The brothers then split, with Toby taking the money using another vehicle, while Tanner creates a diversion. He draws the lawmen off the trail to a desert mountain ridge where he takes potshots with a sniper rifle, killing Parker. Hamilton uses a local resident's knowledge of the area to circle behind Tanner, and kills Tanner with a single head shot using the local's rifle.

During the standoff, Toby (concealing his bleeding, but minor, hip bullet wound) passes through a police checkpoint without incident, then successfully launders the stolen cash at the casino, where he sees the news report of his brother's death on TV. He takes the casino's check to the bank just in time to avoid the ranch's foreclosure and deeds the ranch into a family trust.

After retirement, Hamilton visits his former office to learn that the Rangers have cleared Toby as a suspect, as his record is clean and he has no motive to steal since the new oil wells earn more in a month than the total stolen in all of the robberies. The money from the ranch's oil wells is deposited at the Texas Midlands Bank, which refuses to co-operate with the investigation for fear of losing management of the family's trust fund.

Hamilton visits Toby's ranch, and while they stay civil, Hamilton states that he knows Toby masterminded and took part in the robberies, but wishes to know the reason. Toby does not explain, only implies that he did what he did for his sons. Their conversation is interrupted when Toby's ex-wife and sons arrive. The ranch belongs to the trust and thus to them; Toby is only there to visit and fix up the house. As Hamilton departs, Toby suggests they meet again soon to "finish the conversation," to which Hamilton agrees.