Gerry, a Native American living in North Dakota, has been escaping from and returning to prison for half of his life, ever since he was first arrested for kicking a cowboy in the groin when he was eighteen. At this point, Officer Lovchik and the rest of the town's law enforcement will only try so hard to arrest him. On one occasion, when Officer Lovchik spies Gerry running away from across a bar, he just sighs and sits down at a booth with Gerry's girlfriend Dot, who buys him a drink. Dot, a fiery construction worker, has stuck by her boyfriend's side over the years, hiding him in her trailer house whenever he is able to escape, and has recently gotten pregnant during a visit to Gerry at the state prison.

When a woman, new to town, meets Gerry at a bar, Dot sees them together and angrily threatens her, quickly growing jealous. The woman, unsure whether or not Dot is being serious, only erupts into laughter, noticing the comically small size of her attacker's hands. This angers Dot further, but Gerry takes her home before she can do any real damage.

When the woman shows up for her new job at a construction site the next day, she is approach by Dot, her new coworker, who threatens her with a knife. The woman apologizes, but Dot doesn't back down, so she decides to throw her coffee in her face and run away. Dot calls an unspoken truce after this incident. Within two weeks the woman is promoted to working with Dot, who was somehow both the truck weigher and the truck weight inspector for some time. The two soon grow to enjoy each other's company during the long hours of weighing trucks in the harsh North Dakota climate.

When Dot finally gives birth well past her due date, Gerry escapes from prison, and he and the coworker visit Dot in the hospital. The woman watches as the cops chase Gerry, who manages to flee through a hospital window and disappear on his bike, doing a wheelie as he drives away. When Gerry is finally found and arrested he shoots and kills a Federal Agent and is then sent to a prison in Illinois, where he can only receive visitors when they are separated by Plexiglass.