When a debt puts a young man’s life in danger, he turns to putting a hit out on his evil mother in order to collect the insurance. Finding himself in considerable debt, Chris, a Texan drug dealer, decides the only solution is to murder his mother to collect the insurance money. Getting together with his father, the ex-husband of Chris’ mother, they decide to hire Joe Cooper (a contract killer) who also happens to be a police detective. The plan is that the money will go to Chris’ sister Dottie. However due to the size of the contract fee, Chris agrees that Joe can take Dottie as a retainer until the insurance comes through. Chris Smith (played by Emile Hirsch) is in a bind. He owes a loan-shark a fair bit of money, and the man has threatened to kill him if he does not produce the money within a few days. He does not have the money. He strikes upon a get-rich-quick plan: have his estranged mother killed and collect on the insurance money. He involves his father, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), who buys into the deal for a share of the profit (him and Chris’ mother are divorced and don’t see eye-to-eye, so it wasn’t a tough sell). Ansel then involves his 2nd wife, Sharla (Gina Gershon) and, due to her finding out about the plan, his daughter, Chris’ sister, Dottie (Juno Temple). They hire a professional killer (who happens to also be a cop), “Killer Joe” Cooper (Matthew McConaughey). When they cannot pay him upfront, they reach an unusual deal on how to retain his services. This complicates matters, a lot.—grantss