DEAD HORSE LAKE is a noir drama about a desperate young woman in love with a hit man who must walk a delicate line when the hit man’s boss falls for her.

SYNOPSIS:

Tiffany Rogers is late for work and her boss, Emil Bottoms, is going to kill her.

Her boyfriend, Billy Wade, takes her by boat across Dead Horse Lake – part of the Lac du Flambeau Turtle Flowage in the north woods of Wisconsin - and drops her off at Bottom’s Up Gentleman’s Club where she bar tends and waits tables.

They’ve just spent the afternoon making love and Billy uses his boss’s boat to get her to work. Billy moonlights for Emil Bottoms, too. Emil’s the sleazy owner of Bottom’s Up and contracts Billy to clean up all his messes.

Emil drops Tiffany off at the Club and heads back across the lake to do a job for Emil. He picks up a young hipster from Chicago to take fishing. But once they’re out on the water, we discover the hipster is a mob courier and Billy’s been hired to retrieve a duffel bag full of money and kill the courier, making it look like a fishing accident.

Billy delivers the money to Emil at the strip club and we discover that Emil has a crush on his cocktail waitress, Tiffany. Emil doesn’t know that Tiffany is with Billy and Tiffany doesn’t know that Billy is Emil’s paid hit man.

By day, Billy works at a boat rental/bait and tackle shop, catering to wealthy tourists from Chicago. He and Tiffany have different ideas of what their relationship entails. Tiffany wants to settle down, live in a big house and have a family, while Billy doesn’t want to be in any relationship with any strings attached.

She tells Billy that Emil often leaves his safe open with piles of cash and that it would be easy to take it and go start a new life. Billy talks her out of it, but not before she casually mentions the money to one of the strippers at the club. Billy warns her not to mess with Emil.

That evening, Emil sexually assaults Tiffany and threatens her job if she says anything.

The next day, Emil discovers his safe has been emptied. The money is gone. Tiffany’s stripper friend has apparently stolen the money and Emil wants blood. Her blood. Billy lures out on the lake and drowns her.

To complicate matters, the dead hipster’s uncle Mitch, a Chicago mobster, shows up to get the duffel of money. Emil tells him he doesn’t have it, but Mitch doesn’t care. He wants his money, one way or another.

Billy lures Mitch to the bait shop garage. There’s a violent fight and Billy wounds Mitch with a boat engine propeller. Emil shoots Mitch and the bodies are dumped in the Flowage.

Emil celebrates his victory back at the strip club, making advances on Tiffany. She completely rejects him, betraying her relationship with Billy. In a fit of anger, Emil orders Billy to kill Tiffany. “Lose the cocktail waitress. Nobody will miss her anyway.”

Billy takes her by boat out to his favorite fishing spot on Dead Horse Lake, it’s where they first dated; it’s her favorite place. The most beautiful, secluded part of the lake. It’s where she wants to build her dream home.

They go ashore. They kiss. Billy dutifully puts two bullets in her. But in a fit of remorse, turns the gun on himself, killing himself.

Left in the bottom of the boat- Tiffany’s backpack. It’s full of cash. Turns out the stripper didn’t steal Emil’s money. She did.

DEAD HORSE LAKE