Karl Childers, a mentally disabled man, has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for killing his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly institutionalized, he is deemed fit to be released into the outside world.
Billy Bob Thornton
as Karl Childers
Dwight Yoakam
as Doyle Hargraves
J. T. Walsh
as Charles Bushman
John Ritter
as Vaughan Cunningham
Lucas Black
as Frank Wheatley
Natalie Canerday
as Linda Wheatley
James Hampton
as Jerry Woolridge
Robert Duvall
as Karl's Father
Rick Dial
as Bill Cox
Brent Briscoe
as Scooter Hodges
Christine Renee Ward
as Melinda
Sarah Boss
as Marsha Dwiggins
