Scott, along with John and Susie, heads to Alaska to earn money by salmon fishing. They step into a bar where the two men drink to the point of drunkenness, while Susie meets an older man who works for the oil pipeline and brags that he can land them all decent jobs. He slips Susie his card as the trio yawns off their night, and by morning the mood shifts: their car has been broken into and robbed, leaving them stranded and desperate.
Desperate for cash, the three manage to secure pipeline work with the older man’s help, while Susie finds a waitressing job to keep things moving. In a moment of chaotic economy, they walk out of a food market with a shopping cart full of unpaid-for meat while it’s being robbed, a crude sign of the hard luck they’re facing.
Scott goes to a bar again and meets Cindy, but his attempt at a connection is dampened when she asks for money to go home with her. Instead, he buys three pistols and the day becomes a test of their shooting skills, as they practice and plan for a rougher, more self-reliant life. A tense moment follows when Scott pulls a gun on his coworkers to stop them from robbing pipeline equipment, which costs him his job and puts pressure on John, who is threatened the next day. Suzie quits her job after repeated harassment from her employer, and all three are forced out of their apartment. A late-night misadventure sees Cindy and Scott in the back seat of a car for “fun,” only to be interrupted when two pipeline workers pull Scott out and beat him. Their former boss, Sanders, makes it clear he bears the responsibility for what happened, intensifying the sense that the trio is out of options.
With money running low, they sell their car to survive. Scott and John steal Sanders’ car for a joyride, only to wreck it at a garbage dump. The trio returns to the bar and, through a crude contest, win enough money to buy a 1957 Pontiac. They also win an endorsed payroll check from the pipeline, but cashing it proves impossible, so they rob the payroll office and use Cindy as a hostage to slip away from the pursuing police. They switch back into the 1957 Pontiac, only to discover a flat tire and no spare. Facing hunger and danger, they shoot a bear for food, then tie Cindy up in the car and ride a ferry, with Cindy proposing a ransom of $300,000. Scott makes a call to the pipeline and they orchestrate a plan to deposit the ransom in an open railroad car. A chase ensues as the pipeline representative follows the train, and pistol shots crash through a window when he spots them grabbing the money, but they survive by flipping the rep’s car during the pursuit. They abandon the 1957 Pontiac for another stolen vehicle and, after decamping with the money, Cindy is left at a police station.
Rather than spend the ransom, they decide to keep moving, taking a new job melting down scrap metal. When John catches Scott showering with Susie, tension erupts: John steals a camera while they’re caught on surveillance tape, and he hurls some stolen cash at the shop owner, who responds with a violent choke as he flees. John tries to leave, but the trio reconciles and continues riding together. Their fragile bond frays again when John pulls over for a confrontation on the highway, nearly getting hit by a passing car as the others push forward.
In a last bid for freedom, they abandon the 1957 Pontiac for another stolen car and push through a U.S.–Canada border checkpoint, only to survive a shotgun blast through a window and head into the rugged Canadian mountains. The car finally runs out of gas, forcing John and Susie to sleep in the vehicle while Scott ventures out to find another ride. He succeeds, and returns to wake John, who appears to have died from exposure. Scott’s quick action jolts John back to life, and the trio drives away again in a newly stolen truck. With grim humor and a hard-won sense of hope, they talk about a better future as the credits roll.
