A small town in rural Canada adjusts to the presence of two unusual strangers in this quirky character study. Rose (Loreya Montayne) is fleeing a bad marriage, while Otavie (Awaovieyi Agie) has recently arrived from Nigeria. Both find themselves stranded in a community in Alberta, where Otavie soon becomes involved with Sarah (Amber Rothwell), much to the distress of her boyfriend David (James Hutson), who combats his misery wiling away at a used bookstore run by struggling poet Nigel (Joe Procyk). Rose, on the other hand, tries to support herself by doing phone sex calls, and finds a ready customer in the romantically luckless Nigel. Red Deer was the first feature from writer/director Anthony Couture; it won second place in City-TV's competition for best Canadian debut feature of 2000.