The Badge

La Salle Parish, Louisiana sheriff Darl Hardwick (Billy Bob Thornton) investigates the controversial local murder of a Transsexualism, with the highly sensitive matter being concealed as much as possible by the parish's most influential figures, such figures even going so far as to frame Hardwick for statutory rape involving a local waitress. With his career as sheriff at an end, Hardwick takes a personal stake in the investigation after becoming acquainted with the victim's widow (Patricia Arquette), and begins down a somewhat reckless path to an understanding of the victim's world, reconciliation for past sins, and a series of dark truths within the parish itself.