Ray, portrayed by Corb Lund, is a middle-age working class man who is financially successful, but has serious alienation issues; no family, and not much going on in his life. He is approached by Leland (Kaden Noskiye), a homeless teenager whose sole posession is an old guitar, and he pleads with Ray to teach him to play it. Ray doesn't really want to do it; he was a serious guitarist in his earlier life, and he's alienated from that, too. (In real life, Lund is a Outlaw Country singer-songwriter; he's good enough to have gotten a Juno award and a long list of Canadian Country Music Association awards, but hasn't had commercial success at anywhere near the Garth Brooks level.) From that point on, we are taken through several mysteries about Leland and his guitar, which I am not going to spoil here.
One of the highlights is the performance of Conway Kootenay, who plays Ray, who self-identifies as part-Meti and part-Cree. He speaks the Cree language, and uses that to humourous advantage. Ray actually revels in his second-class citizen status, but he has a gambling addiction, which is addressed later in the film.
It was filmed in High Level, Alberta, a town of 4,000 people in the Peace River Country. Several local people had roles in the film. This film provides insights into Alberta culture rarely seen in the media.
