The Frontier

The Frontier is a 2015 American crime film directed by Oren Shai and written by Oren Shai and Webb Wilcoxen. The film stars Jocelin Donahue, Kelly Lynch, Jim Beaver, Izabella Miko, Jamie Harris, Liam Aiken, and A. J. Bowen. Donahue plays a drifter on the run who stops at a motel, only to find that several people there may be involved in a local heist. Plot Laine, a drifter, falls asleep in her car at a motel's parking lot. In the morning, she hides a personalized money clip and meets the owner, Luanne, who gives Laine a free meal. A local police officer, Gault, explains a brutal murder has occurred in nearby Flagstaff while he changes Laine's flat tire. As a favor, Laine fixes Gault a coffee for Luanne. On Gault's recommendation, Luanne offers Laine a job as a waitress at the motel's diner. Laine turns it down and requests a free room for the night, instead. Although offended her offer was rejected, Luanne agrees. Before going to sleep, Laine sneaks into the adjoining room. As Laine steals a necklace and a bottle of sedatives, the couple staying there returns to their room. Laine hides in the closet, where she overhears them discuss a completed heist. Convinced the drop-off will happen at the motel, Laine apologizes to Luanne and requests a job. When Luanne hesitates, Laine indicates she will return to an abusive boyfriend, and Luanne hires her. At the diner, Laine meets the current guests: Lee, a taciturn man; Flynn and Gloria, the couple from the neighboring room; and Eddie, Gloria's younger brother. When Gloria becomes flustered and announces her necklace has been stolen, the other guests quickly attempt to calm her before Gault intervenes. Also worried about being discovered, Laine slips away and returns the necklace. Before leaving, Gault flirts with Laine, who bluntly rejects him. Gault retaliates by slashing her tires. Laine practices putting the sedative in a customer's drink, knocking him out. That night, Flynn and Gloria get drunk to celebrate their coming fortune, and Laine attempts to slip sedatives into their drinks. Lee returns to the diner and becomes enraged when he sees Flynn, Gloria, and Eddie partying noisily. After taking a phone call, he orders Laine to leave the diner. She refuses, and he beats her, demanding to know who she really is. Luanne returns to the diner and objects, but Lee only stops when Laine admits to killing a man in Flagstaff who had attempted to rape her.