Joe Fitch knows the desert well and is responsible for towing cars and saving people who get lost within the expanses of Death Valley, California. As he is on the way to visit his girl, Opal, he stops in a diner in Baker and encounters an old man, Hanks, who says he is going to hike alone in the desert. Joe, seeing his cane and his small car, advises him against it, but Hanks seems committed. As Hanks departs he mentions to Joe that a couple Hanks has met sends his regards, a couple that Joe towed the car of. When he says the names Joe feigns ignorance saying he doesn't know them, but then goes to throw up in the bathroom -- knowing that when he towed the couple's car they were dead in the back seat, making it impossible for the couple to mention Joe's name to Hanks. Joe then goes to Barstow to visit Opal, a woman who was found wandering in the desert half-eaten by vultures. Living in a recovery facility, Opal is mute and Joe meets with her, telling her about the desert. He mentions the vultures, comparing them to gods or archangels. As he leaves he whispers in her ear that he is going to kill her the next time he sees her. Joe returns to the desert and tracks down Hanks’ car, which he promptly loots and tows. He thinks that Hanks will soon return to try and find his car, but he spots the old man wandering further and further out into the desert until he reaches a Joshua Tree forest. Joe pursues him on foot, reminiscing about all the people that he has killed in the desert as they think he is there to save them. It seems that as he gets closer to Hanks, stumbling through the desert, the old man keeps evading him. He also begins to hear the voices of a pleading woman and of his father. He finally reaches the Joshua Tree forest which is occupied by vultures and he is knocked out by Hanks’ cane. Joe wakes up to Hanks standing over him, who tells him about how he knows that Joe had captured Opal before and was keeping her imprisoned in the desert. Joe pleads for water and Hanks looks at him with pity. He condemns Joe to a life of wandering in the desert, allowing him to kill the people that enter, but never to leave the desert himself. As Hanks leaves, Joe finds his foot being gnawed on by vultures. He takes up the discarded cane of Hanks and once again hears the crying of a woman for water, which he begins to follow.