David, an independent photographer, and Katia, an unemployed woman, leave L.A. to explore the desert terrain in search of a natural set for a magazine photo-shoot. The attractive couple finds a motel at 29 Palms, and subsequently spends their days on their four-wheelers, discovering the Joshua Tree Desert. Driving around with utter freedom, they lose themselves on nameless roads and trails. Frantically making love all the time and most everywhere, they regularly fight. Inevitably, David and Katia kiss and make up though, understanding the eruption petty fights that can occur within ordinary daily life. However, soon their relationship begins to collapse, and elements of menace and fear begin to plague their time spent together, as something horrible and hideous descends upon them.