
He has a girlfriend named Amy ( Kate Hudson). His voice, high-pitched but rough, bespeaks innocence. In the evenings, he plays classical piano, reads books from his father's library and plays opera recordings. He still lives in the home where he was raised. Lou Ford, narrating his own story, is a deputy sheriff in a rural town. The story is set in west Texas in the early 1950s.

He has no control over him, and no doubt sincerely regrets the killer's crimes. The story's insights into this seem limited to the title.

He murders people he loves, while loving them, and has no idea why.

What Thompson saw in his character Lou Ford ( Casey Affleck) was a mild-spoken, intellectual psychopath with no understanding of good and evil.
