We open on a hot August night on the outskirts of a Southern town. Smoke blankets the sky and moon. A young couple runs along railroad tracks at an abandoned rail yard, their identities concealed. They are drunk and climb into a boxcar. They kiss, she takes off her shirt, he loosens his pants-- then they are attacked. The man is beaten and the woman raped. After the assailants have their fill, the woman is allowed to flee, while a conspiracy between her companion and the attackers is revealed.