 Charlie Cox is a divorced writer who lives in Los Angeles. Charlie and his daughter Joleen are on their way home from a cross country vacation when they run out of gas in Banco, Nevada a small town located in a remote part of the desert, and it s one day before Jolene s 14th birthday. When they stop in the Banco supermarket, they notice that there s no one behind the counter, but sheriff Bill Childers is in the store. When Joleen looks at the floor behind the counter, she screams. She sees the body of the store s owner, Ferrell Hogus, in a pool of blood. Charlie and Joleen later check a nearby gas station owned by a friendly Vietnam war veteran named Duckett, but Duckett doesn t have any gas, so Charlie and Joleen check into the nearby Palomino Guest Ranch and Trailer Park, which is owned by an abusive woman named Agnes Reed. Joleen soon meets Agnes s rebelious teenage son Jimmy Reed. On that night, while Agnes is taking a bath, Agnes is killed when a hand reaches in through her bathroom window and pushes a small fan into the bathtub water, electrocuting Agnes. Charlie and Joleen also meet their neighbors, fellow travelers Louise and Amy. It s obvious that a killer is terrorizing Banco, and on the next day, when Jimmy tries to rape Joleen, Joleen is rescued by Pinky Sears, another teenager who lives at the guest ranch. Charlie and Joleen agree to car pool with Louise and Amy, and that night, as they are about to leave the guest ranch, the killer blows up the car with Amy in it to prevent Joleen from leaving, because the killer is now obsessed with Joleen. Joleen s diary is also stolen by the killer. When Jimmy tries to rob Duckett s gas station, Jimmy is arrested and accused of being the serial killer, but the killer turns out to be someone that Joleen thought was her friend.