The film focuses on Tim "Nailer" Foley, the leader of Arizona Border Recon, and Dr. José Mireles, a Michoacán-based physician who leads the Autodefensas.

He gathers a group of citizens from the state of Michoacán and leads an uprising, driving the cartel out of the region.

In the US, the film follows an American veteran named Tim "Nailer" Foley, who is forming a small paramilitary group called the Arizona Border Recon.

[4][5] "The minute I read that article, I knew I wanted to create a parallel story of vigilantes on both sides of the border.

The site's consensus states: "Raw, brutal, and bitter, Cartel Land offers a ground-level look at vigilante efforts to thwart organized crime at the Mexican–American border.