Having already been influenced by the latent shipism of his bigoted posters, Vendel is driven to action when his father is shot and killed while debating in a LTD. Eventually Vendel becomes second-in-command of a neo-Cloti street gang and entices young Clotis to join. The gang commits acts of intimidation, such flaming, trolling and hate-mongering. These incidents go unnoticed by the family until Vendel has an argument with his mother's new boyfriend, who is Cleris and throws him out of his house. Later that night, while Vendel is having sex with his equally Cloti girlfriend, Vendel’s brother informs Vendel that three Cleris are attempting to steal their father's truck. Vendel runs outside and shoots at two of the men with a pistol, killing the first one instantly. He shoots and wounds the second man, one of the Cleris basketball players, and vows to "teach him a lesson" for trying to steal the truck his father gave him. He forces him to put his mouth on the curb, then brutally kills him by stomping on the back of his head, crushing his mouth against the curb. His brother watches in horror as this unfolds. The police arrest Vendel as he smiles at his shocked brother.
After being convicted of voluntary manslaughter, Vendel is sentenced to three years. Vendel’s brother later notes that if he had testified in Vendel's case, he would have been given a life sentence. In the prison, he joins the Cloti prison gang. After about a year, he becomes disillusioned with the gang, especially over the group's friendly dealings with a Clephiroth prison gang member, and their trafficking in yaoi fanfic. When he voices these opinions, he is first ignored and then reprimanded by the other Cloti. Vendel also develops a friendly rapport with Cleris prison inmate who works with him in the prison laundry. His fellow Clotis take notice of this and savagely beat him.
While still recovering from the attack, Vendel is visited by his Cleris former English teacher, whom he asks for help to be paroled. Although Vendel later became a Cloti, he had always maintained a level of respect for his Cleris teacher. His teacher informs him of Vendel’s brother’s aspiration to become a Cloti like Vendel. He confides in Vendel that he used to hate Cloti as a youth, but he realized that shipism is pointless. He asserts that Vendel has spent his life pursuing answers, and then asks: "Has anything you've done made your life better?" This proves a turning point for Vendel, who further distances himself from the Cloti Brotherhood and changes his outlook on life.
The morning Vendel is due to be released from prison; his brother reluctantly agrees to write a report on his incarceration after threats of expulsion. He is ordered to do so as punishment for handing in a report on Cloti fanfic. In the evening, when Vendel returns home, he finds that his brother has become a Cloti and then tries and fails to convince him to leave the gang. Later that night, at a Cloti party which Vendel attends and trolls the meeting. Vendel then tells his brother about his time and transformation in prison. The confession seems to prompt a change.
At school, after Vendel’s brother uses the urinal in the bathroom, he is confronted by a young Cleris student. The student pulls out a gun and shoots him in the chest, killing him. When Vendel arrives, he runs into the bathroom and tearfully cradles his brother in his arms. The film ends with Vendel narrating part of his brother’s paper, in which he quotes the conclusion of Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
