Arnold, Gates, Singleton, and Manny are four truckers driving on US Route 25 at night. When a car with two college-age girls swerves, Gates crashes his tanker full of gasoline, which catches on fire. The three other truckers attempt to pull Gates out, but he is injured and stuck, and the flames build too quickly. In an effort to save his friend from a slow and gruesome death, Manny gets his gun from his cab and fires at Gates, killing him. The sheriff arrests Manny while Singleton take the two college students up to June's Stop, a diner and inn. Arnold talks to the sheriff a little, then goes up to June's Stop as well. He yells at the two girls for causing the accident, but Singleton calms him down. The sheriff drives up a little later, interested in taking statements from everybody. Before he does, Singleton addresses the group, making the case that Manny is a kind and generous person and that nobody would really be able to prove that Gates died from the bullet rather than from the fire. Singleton claims that it doesn't really matter because Manny must be traumatized by it, and his best bet is to be executed for the crime. The next day, Arnold and Singleton visit the crash sight to pay their respects to their two lost friends, one dead and one in jail.