The film, set in contemporary Montana, explores the relationship between a small-town high school football player (Gosling), and his troubled coach (Morse).

Roy whiles away his time by swilling beer with his best friend, Tracy Two Dogs, and falling into a romance with Skyla, a barmaid at a local tavern, but Roy's short time on the high school gridiron seems to have impressed Gideon Ferguson, a local character who coaches an unsanctioned high school six-man football team when he is not delivering newspapers or trying to score a gig singing country songs at nearby honky-tonks.

While playing hardscrabble six-man football helps restore Roy's self-confidence, he finds it does not answer his questions about his future or his relationship with Skyla.

Jay Farrar, founder of the alternative country bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, composed the film's musical score.

The website's critical consensus reads, "A bleak but original indie, The Slaughter Rule benefits from outstanding performances by Ryan Gosling and David Morse.

[14] However, Marjorie Baumgarten of The Austin Chronicle thought that the "writing and directing team of twin brothers Alex and Andrew Smith have made an astonishingly good first feature".