| Director | Richard Linklater |
|---|---|
| Box office | $656,747 |
In (fictional) Burnfield, four young adult friends spend their nights hanging out drinking at "the corner" outside a Circle A convenience store and gas station run by Nazeer and Pakessa, a young Pakistani married couple. Jeff is aimless, writing some and dating Sooze, a community college student who wants to study visual arts in New York City. His best friends are dimwitted, libidinous Buff, and Tim, a disaffected heavy drinker recently honorably discharged from the Air Force.
The gang went to high school with Neil "Pony" Moynihan, lead singer of Dreamgirl, an up and coming rock band opening for a major band on a stadium tour. He contacted Sooze about a local performance, and, although Jeff does not want to pay to see "some band that [he] helped start", Pony is supposed to come by the corner afterward. Hearing this, Sooze's shy friend Bee-Bee joins the gang at the corner. As they wait, Nazeer angers Buff and Tim by telling them to leave his property, and Tim shoves Nazeer. Pakeesa brandishes a gun, and the gang disperses. Jeff and Sooze go to a Whataburger and argue about her leaving, while Buff and Tim visit a liquor store. Buff notices Bee-Bee alone and tells her about a cloud he filmed with a stolen video camera, and they have sex in a nearby abandoned van.
Pony arrives in a limousine with Erica, Dreamgirl's publicist. He is excited to be home and see his old friends, and everyone except Tim acts glad to see him, though Jeff seems jealous—feelings that intensify when Pony asks Sooze to design Dreamgirl's next album cover. Buff hits on Erica, and Bee-Bee sidles off while Pony plays a song. Jeff has an outburst, and Pony apologizes for acting like a big shot. He invites everyone out for food, but Tim stays behind, and so does Erica, drawn to Tim's misanthropic attitude. Although Tim reveals his discharge came after he intentionally cut off the tip of his pinky finger, for which he gets a regular disability check, and insists he is not a nice guy, Erica still wants to go to the van, though he cannot perform.
Returning from the restaurant, Jeff asks to stop so he can relieve himself. With Buff passed out drunk, Sooze and Pony bond while they wait. However, Jeff walks back to the Circle A, where he finds Bee-Bee sitting with an unopened bottle of alcohol. She tells Jeff about her struggles with alcoholism and rehab, and he opens the bottle and drinks while listening, before launching into a drunken monologue about overcoming fear—mentioning he has decided to follow Sooze to New York.
The gang reunites, but Tim is evasive about where Erica is, and she is not answering her cellphone. Tim accosts Pony for hitting on Sooze, and Pony announces he is leaving. After a brief argument with Jeff, Sooze goes with him, and Buff joins them to ride in the limo.
Jeff and Tim leave Bee-Bee, and she begins to guzzle her booze. Nazeer sees Tim and calls the police, who arrest Tim. While the officers take Nazeer's statement, Tim tearfully tells Jeff that he punched Erica until she stopped moving and left her in the van. Once alone, Jeff approaches the van, finding Erica's cellphone on the ground outside.
Near sunrise, Buff returns to the Circle A and sees Jeff, who has been agonizing over what to do about Tim's admission. Buff jubilantly says he is going to Los Angeles to shoot Dreamgirl's next music video, and also claims he slept with Erica. Jeff thinks Buff is boasting, until Erica shows up—unharmed.
Fined and released, Tim walks up as Buff and Erica drive away. Jeff confronts him about lying, but Tim just mocks Jeff for believing him and not having the guts to look in the van. Still drunk, Tim threatens Nazeer with a gun, and a standoff ensues when Nazeer pulls his own gun. Tim taunts Nazeer while climbing to the roof, where he sees Bee-Bee, unconscious. He hands her down to Jeff—who thinks she is breathing—and calls an ambulance. Nazeer says Jeff and his friends are stupid for "throw[ing] it all away".