Living a Lie

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It's a film about love, loyalty, family, friendship, and racism. Way out west, it's a moral dilemma for Jill Eikenberry. Her character, manicurist Joanne Johnson, is the kind of woman who stands by her man. She and her husband, Matt (Coyote), have held their marriage and family together, even though times on their small Southwestern ranch have been tough. One night, Matt and a couple of his buddies get drunk in a local saloon before heading home. They're also stewing in anti-Hispanic racial resentment. Matt is having a hard time making a living and has just had to sell off the last chunk of his inherited ranch property to a family named Martinez. The tragic result of their mean-spirited horseplay is a small Mexican church. burned to the ground, two young people critically injured and three men tangled up in fear, loathing, and lies. Joanne senses the awful truth way ahead of her spiteful, narrow-minded pals down at the local beauty parlor, and she sets out to do the right thing.