You're a nun.
That's mighty astute of you.
What the hell are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere
by yourself?
If you would just help me cross the river,
then I can be on my way.
That all?
Any other ways in which we might be of service to you today?
I assume you know the laws of God.
Thou shalt not murder.
The almighty forgives those who repent and seek him.
Tell your friend to keep his nose out of my cart.
Always curious.
He's always on the lookout for something shiny.
- West. - Damn it to hell.
What did I tell you about using names?
I found something.
Well, Sister, what's in the chest?
My business is none of your concern.
Give me you rifle.
Please, don't.
Here's a heavy son of a bitch.
Forget it.
What?
I said, forget it.
Get the horses.
So you don't forget.
What are you doing out here?
The Lord God smiles upon those who give aid to his servants.
Would you please help me cross the river?
This is the bad land, Sister.
There ain't no God here.
Let's go, go.
Whoa.
My boys are back,
safe and sound.
What news you bring?
It's enough to retire on.
You see that, boys?
Unlike you sorry sons of bitches,
the Vetter brothers know how to get it done.
West, you come with me.
A job well done deserves a shot of my finest.
Not as quiet as I used to be, it would seem.
You dry?
It would appear so.
Oh, I despise getting old.
It takes away everything we admire about ourselves.
It constantly reminds us of the oncoming dark.
I think it's about time we consider
moving on from this place.
It doesn't seem like there's much land left in this country
for men like us.
I just wish that I could be here to see the day
when you take over this outfit.
I don't want to lead these men, Shaw.
I ain't got land.
I ain't got a house.
I ain't got a woman.
There's nothing that's mine.
I don't think I can live like that forever.
West, when I found you, you were no more than a kid,
and I took you in.
I tried to pass on part of myself, I suppose.
That is the only way to achieve immortality
on this shit-filled rock.
This life, it's all just a cruel joke.
This world is a kingdom of pain, chaos, and suffering.
And we take what we want
when we want, and how do we pay?
In blood.
That's my boy.
Good night, Weston.
You need something?
What the hell you so jumpy about, Emmett?
Shaw says we're moving out.
Well, it's about time.
We ain't going.
What do you say?
Get to start over.
Let me try our hand at one of them
almond farms out and about.
So what's your plan then, just tell Shaw that we're done
and then bye?
I say we take our cut and don't look back.
Stealing from Shaw?
It ain't stealing.
He'll kill you.
Hell, he'll kill a lot of us just like he did with his gang
back in Colorado.
That's a tale, Emmett.
I believe it.
Shaw's been real good to us.
So long as it serves his purpose.
Yeah, not always.
I mean, he brought us up like we was his own.
You and me are family, OK?
You and me.
Ow, shit.
When?
Tomorrow morning.
We'll meet McCain.
That's where I stashed her cut.
I need something new, Emmett.
So do you.
Trust me.
California is going to be good for us.
I promise.
Is your mind set on this?
You looking for something, Weston?
I wouldn't run if I were you.
There is not a creature on this Earth who can outrun
my little angel of death.
After all that I have given you,
this is how you repay me.
Treachery is not a wise move, generally speaking.
But when it's done to me,
it's particularly hazardous.
Did you really think that you could purchase your freedom
without the shedding of blood?
Where's my brother?
Now, that is an interesting question.
Come out, boy.
What have you done?
It's going to be all right, Wes.
But right now, you have to go.
We'll see each other again somewhere down the line.
Ain't that what you said?
That's right, Emmett.
That is what I said.
In my younger days, I could have gone on like this for hours.
You know, I've always admired your knife.
The design of it, so clean.
Emmett.
I'm going to teach you something that my father taught
to me before I returned the favor to him.
If you stab an animal just right,
it's not the puncture wound that causes death.
No, it's the removal of the blade
that ushers in the darkness.
Like father, like son, my boy.
Good for you.
It's the removal of the blade that ushers in the darkness.
Here you go.
Take a drink.
That's it.
Been out for quite some time.
How long?
A few days.
Looks like these need changing.
I'll get the water boiling.
Do I know you?
The nun.
Sister Hildegard.
This is going to hurt.
Hold still.
I said hold still.
Then don't touch me.
If I don't change your bandages, your wound will fester,
and you will die.
I'm dying already.
Aren't we all?
Where are you taking me?
North.
Where North?
Williston.
Why?
Hauling supplies.
You give me a straight answer, woman.
What are you talking about supplies?
Various.
What you doing all the way down here?
Are you lost?
A nun lost in the Badlands.
You are lucky you're still alive, Sister.
So are you.
What do you want?
A thank you out of me?
Next time, just let me die.
I have recently found myself in need of a new guide.
And what happened to your old one?
Died.
Well, that sounds like a swell job opportunity.
How did he go?
I'm not entirely sure.
Got up and wandered off into the hills.
Found him the next morning.
Looked like he'd been mauled by some animal.
Well, your proposition needs work, Sister.
I don't plan on picking up a new profession of nun guiding.
So you are going to have to find somebody else.
So what's in the chest?
Nothing you need to be concerned with.
Whoa, stop it.
Hey, put that down.
What's the big deal?
It ain't been consecrated yet, right?
Put it down now.
Make me.
Oh, come on, Sister, you
ain't going to pull that trigger.
Fine, just one.
Absolutely.
You want some?
All right, then I will continue to indulge.
Get up!
Mr. Shaw.
Damn it.
Mr. Shaw, you got to come quick.
You want to hold on a minute?
Take a goddamn breath.
Now, what is it that requires my immediate attention?
I am in the middle of something here.
It's my brother.
He's gone.
Saddle up the others.
Mr. Shaw, ain't West been through enough?
No loose ends.
What are you doing?
Man's got to eat, Hildy.
Can I call you that?
Put those back.
Beans are for eating, Hildy.
It's Sister Hildegard.
Now, if you would kindly put those
back where you found them.
You know, for a nun, you ain't that generous.
Generosity is not--
Shut up.
Excuse me?
Shut your mouth.
No.
Give me that damn rifle, woman.
Don't you cuss at me.
Give me the damn rifle, please.
You need to trust me.
I don't.
Grace and peace to you.
Oh, oh, I'm sorry.
Excuse me.
Good afternoon there, Sister.
If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here
in the wilds?
Traveling North, doing the Lord's work.
You know, I always did respect those
who commit their lives to a higher calling.
That's not for me though.
No, Ma'am.
Hunting, trapping, fishing, and all of the above.
If it crawls, flies, hops, swims, or runs,
it's likely I've killed it, skinned it, or eaten
it, and probably all three.
You alone?
It's just that it's mighty dangerous for a woman as
agreeable as yourself to be out here traveling in solitude.
I mean, God only knows what might happen,
what characters you might run across out here in the wild.
You seem like a good Christian man.
Indeed, I am.
But like all men, I have needs.
I think I done soiled myself again, Sister Sarah.
What's this?
What's happening here, Sister?
I can't seem to control my bowels.
Afternoon, Sir.
I gotta lay back down.
He's my charge.
A loathsome man, really.
Self-important and stubborn, but suffering with an affliction
of the worst kind, leprosy.
Leprosy?
As I'm sure you're well aware, we sisters
often care for the infirm and downtrodden
in our society, even those with poor, ungrateful attitudes.
He's the reason I'm traveling North.
The last wish of a miserable, arrogant wretch.
Watch it.
Best to be careful around the wagon now.
He's mighty contagious.
Oh, no, I don't want none of that.
Come on.
Sister Sarah?
Miserable, arrogant wretch?
Get up.
How do you know that's West's fire, Mr. Shaw?
You seen anybody else wandering around out here lately?
Take me to the valley.
Lay this out for me.
I'm a young cowboy, and I know I done wrong.
You have an excellent singing voice, Hildy.
You never spend any time at the Painted Lady brothel
down in Kansas City, did you?
No, no.
For a minute there, the nature of this entire excursion
was about to change drastically.
I never did understand.
With all of the pleasures that this world has
to offer, why would you want to go and take up the cloth
and hide it away from it all in some church?
I was married once.
I had two little girls.
It was just before harvest.
I loved my husband, but he would drink.
He had this fire inside of him.
Sickness of the mind, the doctors called it.
Lots of former Calvary men suffer from the same.
Something about killing other men.
It changed those boys.
He killed my little ones.
I shot him.
Stay back.
Don't be afraid.
It is only me.
What is it that you need?
I know your wounds.
They're made from hatred.
Hold here.
The great mystery brought me to you
and brought you to me.
We are the sons and daughters of the great mystery.
You're on the path.
What are we doing now?
Are you a believer, West?
Weston?
In clean rifles?
You bet your holy ass I am.
Do you fear God?
Let's not go down that road, Sister.
Well, it's a simple enough question.
Do you fear God?
You're talking about some supreme being
of unimaginable power that created everything
that is and was and will be.
That's one way to put it.
No, Sister, I do not.
I've seen enough to know if there is a God, he is mean,
or else he just don't give a shit,
and I don't know which is worse.
Well, Weston, I'm truly sorry to hear you say that.
Yeah.
We are born into this world through pain and suffering.
That's true, and we live in pain.
Most creatures on Earth will die in pain.
Life and pain,
the two cannot be separated,
but the answers that you seek are found in places like these,
Badlands.
Weston, it's in the darkness,
it's in the most violent places
that his love shines ever brighter.
I need to piss.
Wes.
Ah, give me a minute, will you?
Weston.
I'm pissing as fast as I can.
Riders coming.
We got to get off the trail.
Wes, put it down.
I said, put it down.
You know I ain't doing that.
Do it.
Weston.
You got clipped last night.
Yeah, I noticed.
You got any more of this shit?
There's a trading post up ahead.
I saw a sign a ways back.
No, we need to steer clear.
You'll stay hidden in the back.
The Lord will protect us.
Stay down.
I'll be out soon.
Isn't this a sight?
An honest to God Sister of the Church.
Good afternoon.
You been traveling out here long?
A few days now.
I'm headed North to join my sisters.
Williston?
I have not been up in those parts in some time.
One of my men is missing.
He was a dear boy of mine.
We fear he may be injured in the shoulder.
You haven't seen anybody wandering around these parts,
have you?
No falsehoods now.
I don't see how any injured man would last very long out here.
You've been into some trouble.
I can handle myself.
I have no doubt.
Not a soul in this wagon, unless, of course,
that is the Holy Ghost you are transporting
through our forsaken Badlands.
We are none of us forsaken who turn to our Lord for succor.
Sister, may I.
We all have our crosses to bear.
Mine are my knees,
twisted up from years of hard riding.
Sir, I have not come across any others these past few weeks.
What do you think?
Am I getting the truth here?
Nuns don't lie.
Wisdom of Solomon.
Well, best be on my way.
I hope we find him before he is face down in the dirt.
Good day, Sister.
How far are we from my sisters?
A week or more in this wagon.
A few days on horseback.
When are you going to explain that unholy amount of gold
that you're hauling?
It's a monstrance.
Mon-- what?
A monstrance, a vessel for the sacrament
of the body of Christ.
Are you talking about taking communion?
Yes.
Well, that is a lot of gold to be transporting alone
without any protection.
The Lord will provide all the protection that I need.
He also provides liars and thieves in abundance.
He provided you, didn't he?
That's what I said?
You haven't stolen anything from me, have you, Wes?
Oh, something ain't right about stealing from a nun.
I don't think that's going to end well.
I thought you didn't believe in the almighty?
What is it?
It's nothing.
Is it your foot?
I'm fine.
Let me see.
Come on.
It's the least I can do.
When I was a kid, I'd run away with my brother
for days at a time and catch our own food.
He was a tenderfoot like you.
Where is he now?
He's dead.
I'm sorry.
It wasn't like we wanted to live on the land.
Our old man was--
he reminds me a lot of your husband.
Takes his pain out on those around him.
He does it without cause or reason.
I still feel it when that North Dakota cold sets in.
One day, he was there, and the next day, nothing.
I was 10.
It is the darkest struggles in our lives that
bring us the most meaning.
Without those experiences,
you wouldn't be ready for God
to use us for his greater purposes.
I'm going to ask you one more time.
Have you seen a wounded man wandering around these parts?
I think-- I might have happened upon a sister.
What do you mean sister?
Catholic woman.
No-- you see,
I thought she was traveling by herself.
I come to find out she was--
she was hauling some impaired bastard.
He was-- he was real hurt.
He was sick, really sick.
What exactly did she say?
Look, I don't know.
I don't know.
I am going to show you something that my father taught to me,
and you are going to show me everything.
Oh, no.
This should have done me in.
You got the healer's touch.
After the war, I heard the Union hospitals needed nurses.
So I went.
I was 16 years old.
I saw much worse than that little scratch
you've got there.
Met my husband in that hospital too.
He came in all torn to bits.
It wasn't the physical wounds that
caused the most pain though.
I say we're all better off not being born.
I know that goes against everything you
religious types believe.
What will you do after we've reached my sisters?
It seems to me I've got some unfinished business
to attend to.
And what good will it do you?
Not about good.
Those who live by the sword--
I know the rest.
When we forgive those who trespass--
It ain't for me, Sister, OK?
I do not buy into your way of life.
You have a fire inside of you, but you
are a good man at the core of your being,
and you may not know it yet or understand it,
but you were meant for so much more than this.
The only God I know has dragged me
through this shit my entire life.
No, God does not harm those that he loves.
Bullshit.
God loves all of his children, and he watches over them.
Did he watch over yours?
This is all just a cruel joke.
I will pray for you.
You do that.
Good morning, Sister.
It's time to get up.
Let me go.
Don't-- don't struggle, please.
The Lord--
Don't rattle your bones at me, Holy woman.
There is no Lord in these Badlands but me.
String her up.
Mr. Shaw, I don't know about this.
When I found you and your brother, Wes was older.
He was always hard with me, demanding,
and we took to each other because that's all I know,
how to raise and lead hard cruel man in a hard cruel world,
but you were younger.
You always needed from me something
I was not capable of giving.
I failed you, Emmett,
as a father,
and I'm being completely honest with you now,
and I think we both know that it is time for you to be honest
with me, completely.
Come on.
Weston.
OK.
Shaw--
Did he do this?
Shaw has her.
Who?
The nun?
Where did he take her?
No, Emmett, where did he take her?
Back-- back to camp.
Wes.
It's OK.
Don't do that.
Please, help me.
I would have liked to have seen California.
My brother.
It's OK.
Hey!
Weston, I know you can hear me.
Let her go, Shaw.
She ain't done nothing.
Now, why would I do that?
Got nothing to do with you and me.
Your savior's here.
Call to him.
Call to him now.
Tell him you're all right.
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and Earth.
I'm going to give you five seconds until I turn this nun's
head into a soup bowl.
One,
two,
three,
four.
Weston Vetter, the man who wouldn't die.
You were like a son to me, you and Emmett both.
Don't you say his name.
Was I unfair to you, untrustworthy?
What exactly did I do that would cause you to take from me?
Had you but asked, I would have given you anything.
Weston, my boy, this
is not what I wanted.
Look at what you made me do.
I took what was owed.
No boy of mine would take from me and not pay,
and we always pay, Weston.
Ain't that right, boys?
How do we pay?
In blood.
How do we pay?
In blood.
How do we pay?
In blood.
Kill him, god damn it.
Weston,
look at what you've done.
Walk away, Claire.
I don't want to do this.
Neither do I.
I'm going to kill you, boy.
My Kingdom for a horse.
You never begged me for anything, did you, Weston?
You're not like your little brother.
He was begging on his knees since the moment I
found you both, all the way to the end.
Why?
Why would anyone with sound mind beg for anything
from this land?
He rooted and wallowed in his pleading.
So I stuck him like a pig.
You son of a bitch.
Don't, please.
You're too late for me, Sister.
I've staked my life upon a cast.
I must stand the hazard to die.
I always thought
you'd be the one
to kill me, Weston,
like I was for my father before me.
I guess the joke's on me.
My boy.
I was always proud of you.
Keep it.
I don't know if you exist, but if you do,
take this woman into your embrace.
Sanctify her at the foot of your throne.
Maybe, if I can do this one good deed,
you'll forgive all the other wrong that I've done.