After rejecting a bribe that would have ensured his silence, Harry finds the funds deposited into his bank account and he is promptly arrested.

Though he is bitter against the town officials, Harry wanders back to Palmetto with his girlfriend Nina, who has been patiently waiting for him.

When Odette goes missing, (the plan is that she will stay out of town for a few days, until her father pays the money,) the story gets leaked to the police.

When Harry shows up to his bungalow to find Odette dead one day, he realizes he's in a lot of trouble.

They plan to kill both of them by dipping them in a barrel of acid, but Harry is wearing a wire and the police arrive.

Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, praising Harrelson's acting and some of the storyline, but criticising the directing, script, and Shue's casting, concluding that "Palmetto knows the words, but not the music".

[5] In the Washington Post, Stephen Hunter praised the film's beginning, but felt that "quickly enough the movie gets lost in the tendrils of its own seemingly dense but actually stupid plot".