| Director | Steve Anderson |
|---|---|
| Genre | science fiction film |
| Runtime | 94 min |
| Country | United States |
John Person is a struggling actor in Los Angeles who is $27K in debt. His neighbor Neely offers him $27K to take a gun and deliver a blue suitcase to "Cowboy" in Baker.
Arriving in Baker at his hotel, Person just misses Cowboy. At a bar, he is immediately held at gunpoint by Randy, who thinks Person is after his girlfriend Ruthie. She comes to Person's room later, returning his dropped wallet. In a diner the next day, Person meets Dan, who tells many strange tales and conspiracy theories about the desert. Person meets Ruthie outside a gas station and they drive to Devil's Crest lakebed outside town. As they get drunk, he hears stories about disappearing people. Person drives Ruthie home when she gets sick and passes out.
At the motel, Person again misses Cowboy, who left him a bowling ball bag that he is not allowed to open. Person's friend Grace calls to tell him Neely was beheaded, and FBI agent Banks is looking for him. Fearing Neely's head is in the bag, Person buries it. Later, Randy threatens to kill him if he talks to Ruthie again. Stella, the bar owner, reveals she rescued Ruthie as a toddler from Devil's Crest. At the bar, Banks tries to link Person to Neely's murder and 75 mysterious disappearances from Baker.
Person sees Randy has stolen his suitcase. He drives to a junkyard with his gun, finding Randy has tied Ruthie up. During an armed standoff, Person convinces Randy to let Ruthie and him go by threatening to shoot her. Later, Ruthie comes to Person's room to tell him Randy was arrested, and they have sex. Randy then kidnaps Person, but before Randy can shoot him, Cowboy shoots Randy. Going back to the motel, Person finds suitcases stacked in his room. Cowboy, taking Grace hostage, tells him to drive them to the Devil's Crest lakebed. Person goes to Devil's Crest and meets Bob the Indian, who tells him where and how to arrange the suitcases before leaving.
Cowboy arrives with a group in blue tracksuits, similar to Neely's, including Ruthie. Cowboy pulls out a pair of size-11 bowling shoes from the bag and offers them to Person as a chance to join him to Paradise. Refusing, Cowboy gives them to Ruthie. She excitedly invites Person, but he declines. Cowboy shoots a flare and insists he is simply a cowboy, even as his skin turns blue and translucent. As the flare explodes, Person blacks out. He awakens alone on the dry lakebed. All of the suitcases are empty except for a locked one, which he takes. At the highway, he meets Grace, who says he has been missing for three days and gives him a key from Cowboy. He finds his $28K in the case.
Back in Los Angeles, Banks interrogates Person. Unable to tell the truth to the families of those disappeared, Banks invents a story. Person sees a band-aid on Banks' neck, similar to the one that appeared on his own neck after Devil's Crest, relating to one of Dan's conspiracy theories. As Person and Grace go on a date at a bowling alley, she congratulates him for getting a supporting role in a film. She quotes Cowboy with bright blue eyes. Person, wearing size-11 shoes, rolls a ball down the alley; his eyes turn bright blue, too. The bowling ball rolls across the vast moonlit Devil's Crest. Far in the distance white flames, like the Cowboy's flare, rise from the desert floor.