Steven had been on the road for several days, hitchhiking home from college, when he came across the small New England town, nestled in a secluded valley. Most of the people who lived there had been born there. Like Mrs. Eleanor Ross, who manages the five and dime, shy young Ellie Ryerson who works in the store after school, and Tom McCabe, the town’s police chief.

Stephen and Ellie are instantly attracted to one another and arrange to go to the movies after she gets off work. While she is waiting for Steven to arrive, McCabe invites Ellie to go for a ride in his patrol car. Knowing the police chief’s reputation, she refuses. He drags her inside the car , ignoring her protests, and drives away.

Steven pursues them on foot up the mountain but is impeded at every step by the town and townspeople. Middle-aged women clutch at him for sex, dogs attack him, cruising teen-agers throw beer cans.

McCabe too has been busy, killing first a burglar, the burglar’s dog, and then one of his own deputies. He is in the process of burying Ellie alive in the town cemetery when he and Steven finally come face to face.


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