A series of violent deaths and the disappearance of a young woman pull two FBI agents to a quiet town in rural Nebraska. Hallaway (Bill Pullman) and Anderson Julia Ormond arrive to uncover what happened, only to meet three survivors from the bloodbath: Stephanie, the wary young woman; Bobbi [Pell James], a cocaine-addicted former party girl; and Bennett, a foul-mouthed police officer. Through a series of interviews with Captain Billings and officers Wright and Degrasso, the trio recounts the strange, escalating events that brought them all to this point, hinting at a darkness lurking behind the town’s calm facade.
On a desolate county road, Bennett and his partner Conrad operate a cruel game: they secretly shoot the tires of passing cars, bluff that the blowouts were caused by speeding, and then threaten the drivers afterward. They target one young couple and then let them go, sowing fear and confusion in the wider community.
Sometime later, Stephanie—while vacationing with her family—spots a car stained with blood and warns her oblivious mother. Bobbi, high on drugs with her boyfriend Johnny, is right behind them. At a rest stop, both girls realize that a pair of killers is behind a string of murders and possibly the woman’s disappearance. Stephanie’s stepfather Steven speeds on, and Bennett shoots their tire, intensifying the panic. The officers arrive and harass everyone, forcing Steven to put Conrad’s gun in his own mouth and prompting Bobbi to lash out at Johnny. After this chaotic encounter, Stephanie shares the bloody car sighting with the officers before they decide to investigate.
Steven begins changing the tire, and Bobbi moves to talk with Stephanie’s uneasy family, who feel violated by the officers. After the group passes a white van, Bennett and Conrad spot the same car Stephanie described further down the road and race back toward the van. The van rams into Johnny’s car, killing him and Steven. A dead man sits at the wheel, while a living person, hooded in a black bag, occupies the front seat of the van. Bobbi tries to rescue the survivor as trying times unfold around them. Bennett and Conrad arrive back at the scene; in the ensuing chaos, Conrad is killed and the masked figures emerge to finish their assault, killing Stephanie’s mother and brother and knocking Bennett unconscious. Stephanie and Bobbi seek shelter in the police car, clutching onto a fragile hope for safety.
Meanwhile, Hallaway and Anderson race to make sense of the mounting events, as more bodies are found in a nearby motel. Anderson takes Wright and Degrasso to the scene, leaving Hallaway with Bobbi, Billings, and Stephanie. Stephanie whispers something to Hallaway, and Degrasso later discovers nude pictures of Anderson and Hallaway in the backseat. As Degrasso examines them, it becomes clear that he has spotted the two “federal agents” and realizes they are not who they claim to be. Before he can react, Anderson shoots both Degrasso and Wright, then discards their bodies by the roadside. Hallaway’s behavior grows increasingly erratic and violent, and he finally admits that he was at the bloodbath earlier—the two are the killers, a pair of serial murderers with a sexual sadism that fuels their crimes.
The body count climbs as the truth comes to light. Billings is killed, and Bennett meets his end as well. The couple’s attention narrows to Bobbi, who becomes the next target of Hallaway’s brutality, strangled in a chilling revelation of their murderous dynamic.
A phone message left at the police station reveals that the bodies in the motel are those of the missing woman and two real FBI agents. As Hallaway and Anderson drive away, they spot Stephanie standing in a field by the roadside. Hallaway tells Anderson that the little girl had been onto them all along, and so he lets her go. Anderson answers with a calm, almost tender line: I think that’s the most romantic thing in the whole world. Stephanie watches their vehicle disappear into the distance, lingering on the field as the story ends with a stark, unsettled silence.
