Plot: Groomed by his father John Marcus starting when he was just a child to follow in his footsteps, Cotton Marcus, a natural performer, is a Baton Rouge based preacher, much of his work, like his father, carrying out exorcisms. Because of the accidental death of a supposedly possessed ten year old at the hands of another exorcist, and his now adolescent son Justin Marcus' brush with death at birth, Cotton admits to himself that he has never really believed in demons and thus possessions - all the exorcisms he asked to perform by like people with like stories, only the names being changed - and may not really believe in God, but had carried out such work, a scam, for his family and in providing a service in demand. As such, he decides to allow a documentary film crew to follow him at his next exorcism to show the process for the scam it is, he just choosing the next in the long list of requests he receives, this one from rural Ivanwood, LA. The supposedly possessed this time is sixteen year old home schooled Nell Sweetzer, the request coming from her devout farmer father, two-year widowed Louis Sweetzer, and apparently, as Cotton will discover, against the wishes of Nell's older brother, Caleb Sweetzer. Louis' devotion to his faith is despite he and his local preacher, Pastor Joseph Manley, having had a falling out over Nell, the Sweetzers who have not attended church now in two years. Cotton will discover that Nell is different than any of the other "possessed" before her that he's seen, and that he, and by association anyone else dealing with this case, including the documentary crew, may be over their heads and in possible danger, that is unless Cotton truly has the faith and the power he purports to his followers.
Alternative Plot: After years of gulling the faithful, cleric Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) feels remorse and decides to expose his chicanery through filming a documentary. With a crew in tow, Marcus arrives at the Louisiana farm of devout Louis Sweetzer, who believes that his daughter, Nell, is possessed. When the usual stunts fail, he realizes that he is face-to-face with real evil and must summon true faith to protect Nell, the others and himself from demonic power.
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