Alors que les constructeurs de chemins de fer traversent sans relâche le désert de l'Arizona en direction de la mer, Jill arrive dans la petite ville de Flagstone avec l'intention de commencer une nouvelle vie.

A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.

A dramatic parable of choice and resulting consequences. Synopsis: A man is traveling alone in his car in Southern California. The year is 1947. He stops to look at his road map. The map warns him that no one should turn off the main roads without inquiring locally. The driver notices what looks like a short-cut on the map. He turns onto it. Soon his car has overheated and he is stalled - miles away from any help. The traveler walks away from the road apparently hoping to find another short-cut, cross-country. He brings no hat, no canteen, no provisions.