Borderland: Love and severance on the new frontier

Young Nero flees his home town after his family is murdered by a rival family. Traveling the open road, he is haunted by the ghost of his mother and the guilt of her death. Finally settling in Wounded Tree, he discovers his calling as the outlaw extraordinaire, King Of The Dogs.

Nero’s new home, Wounded Tree, has become the defacto capital and beating heart of Borderland. It’s a safe haven for gangsters, outlaws and corrupt politicians, while also attracting all types of thrill seekers to it’s wild west inspired anything-goes culture. But even before Borderland’s establishment, the town had an ancient reputation for trapping visitors in a web of indulgence, vice and debt. Visitors beware.

At the peak of Nero’s outlaw fame, he meets the beautiful and uninhibited Kemina. They fall in love in front of the world on Wounded Tree’s immersive, pay-per-act, live streaming stage. But their impassioned, high thrills romance is cut short by Nero’s soul-destroying error at the Governor’s ball. 

Jax, an orphaned child of Wounded Tree enters the story. Escaping an abusive orphanage at a very young age, Jax lives as a thief on the streets. He finds shelter in caves on the edge of town and lives a solitary nocturnal life, withdrawing into his lucid dreams. But when his gang is absorbed by a cartel he is forced to change professions from theft to murder.

Kemina's death and the Governor's resulting punishments have reduced Nero to a bitter and broken old man. Luna, his daughter, only three years old when her mother Kemina was killed, grows up alone under Nero's oppression and cruelty. Luna bides her time, retreating into stories of her own making while longing for love and freedom.

Through a chance encounter, Luna and Jax meet and begin a secret affair. They fall in love and make a plan to escape Papi and the cartel by crossing the border with the help of a coyote. But crossing proves difficult when they are attacked by the Federales.

Jax and Luna are separated when their attempt to cross the border is thwarted by the Federales. Hiding through the night they come to terms with their predicament and prepare themselves for what lies ahead.

Luna, fleeing the attacking Federales disappears into the badlands of Borderland and discovers she is pregnant with Jax’s baby. A kind family gives her shelter while she gives birth to a healthy boy, but Papi soon catches up. Narrowly escaping, Luna and her child, Davy, begin a life on the road and on the run.

Jax wanders the northern border before returning to Borderland to liberate Luna. After confronting the Federales and Papi, the cartel forces him out of Borderland before he is able to find Luna. After he returns to the north, war breaks out and Jax gets caught up in the conflict.

Without Jax, Luna raises Davy alone on the road and on the run, not realising Papi is no longer a threat. To help fill their stomachs, Luna and Davy begin busking in the towns they visit, eventually achieving some success. However, tragedy strikes and Davy is forced to confront Borderland and his life, alone.

Davy tracks his father, Jax, deep into an isolated maze of canyons north of the border. Through a series of revelations, including learning the fate of Papi, Davy reflects on his family history and the degree to which he can determine his own future, independent of the past he was born into.