University students Lewis Thomas (Paul Walker) and Venna Wilcox (Leelee Sobieski), Lewis's childhood friend and crush, prepare to go home for the summer holiday. Lewis, a University of California student, offers to come by Venna's campus (she attends University of Colorado) to drive her home instead of both of them flying back; Venna happily agrees. After refunding his plane ticket to buy a 1971 Chrysler Newport, Lewis calls his parents to announce the change of plan and learns that his older brother Fuller (Steve Zahn), the family's black sheep, has been arrested once again. Lewis drives to Salt Lake City and bails out Fuller, who then tags along for the trip.
The film begins at a truck stop in an unspecified rural location. It is night time in the midst of a heavy rainstorm, and a Prostitute gets into a large, black Peterbilt and offers her "services" to the trucker inside. The trucker is revealed to be Rusty Nail, when he recites his phrase "I like the rain. Keeps everybody inside and washes everything clean". He asks the hooker to go out into the rain to wetlook. When she is unnerved by his strange behavior and states she is leaving, Rusty Nail locks the doors and tells her to leave through the open window. He shuts the window halfway as she is climbing out, trapping her with half of her body outside the truck. Rusty Nail then drives off, decapitating the woman as he drives alongside another truck trailer.