Watch A Simple Plan

The film "A Simple Plan" was developed from the 1993 novel of same title written by Scott Smith, who also did the 1998 screenplay. Sam Raimi directed the intense crime drama starring Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda as leading characters. The setting is in a winter wilderness area of Minnesota. Two brothers, Paxton and Thornton, come upon a crashed private plane and discover a satchel containing a fortune in U.S. dollars. They decide to leave it hidden and keep their find secret. Their simple plan develops its first flaw when Paxton tells his wife, Fonda, who immediately becomes excited and wants to see and spend the found fortune.

The brothers made a pact to not return to the site until it was safe to keep the money, but in a humorous twist both renege and realize both have been checking on the money. Suddenly a lone snow boarder comes by and they panic, believing he has seen the wreckage. In a black humor event, one brother tries to kill the hapless stranger, and the other brother completes the act.

A fake FBI investigator intensifies their dilemma when he arrives, seeking the plane and money. Fonda advises Paxton and Thornton the investigator is really one of the kidnappers who had the money. In a scene both poignant with drama and ripe with humor, one brother demands the other kill him because he cannot continue in their pact any longer. Paxton refuses to kill Thornton but in a fast quirk, does actually shoot his brother and returns to his wife, Fonda, in high anxiety.

Paxton decides he wants none of the money and burns it all. Afterward, Fonda and Paxton's life returns to its original humdrum status with no gains from the money found. They regret the loss of Thornton and realize only negative impact from the miraculous finding of a kidnapper's fortune.