The Loners

On a southwest desert highway, police respond to a roadside call for assistance from Hearn, a middle-aged businessman with a bleeding cut on his forehead from his partially shattered car windshield. Although Hearn describes a speeding, bullying hippie motorcyclist who hurled a rock at the car, in reality, the young cyclist, Stein, passed the car driving normally. However, Stein's bushy hair, beaded choker and fringe jacket so offended the conservative Hearn, that he tried to force the biker off the road. In desperation, Stein eventually flung a knob from the cycle back at the car. The highway police promise to arrest the attacker and some miles down the highway, catch up with Stein, who drives off the road in hopes of evading them. The dirt raises a dust cloud and, unable to see clearly, the police inadvertently speed over a sharp incline and crash. Horrified, Stein stops near the wrecked patrol car, where one officer is dead and the other injured. Spotting Stein, the injured patrolman fires his gun at him. Stein flees to a nearby town where he meets his friend, the mildly retarded Alan. When Stein explains that they must part, a distraught Alan roars away on his bike with sidecar, but Stein soon follows when the sheriff's car, bearing the injured policeman, drives into town. A few miles away, in Puente City, teenaged Annabelle Carter, known as Annabelle Junior because she is named after her mother, hastily throws her boyfriend Howie Rudd out of her bedroom when her mother unexpectedly returns home early from work. Annabelle criticizes her daughter's laziness and orders her to go in search of a job, but when she finds marijuana in a pair of jeans, she threatens to throw the girl out. After her mother slaps her for making a sharp retort, Annabelle Junior escapes to a popular drive-in. Soon after, Stein and Alan arrive. Attracted to Annabelle Junior, Stein introduces himself, but upon hearing her name, decides instead to call her "Julio," to which she readily agrees. A little later Howie arrives with some friends and is taken aback to see Julio with the eccentric-looking Stein and Alan. When Howie berates Stein, Stein throws him into a trashcan as the crowd of young people cheer, and invites Julio to go with them. Several miles away, the trio stops to skinny-dip in a nearby pond and Stein reveals that he is half Navajo and has achieved some modest success as a motorbike racer, with Alan as his mechanic. Sensing that Julio would like to remain with him and Alan, Stein confides his involvement in the police accident. Unconcerned, Julio insists on going with them, and when a skeptical Stein asks how they will survive, she blithely suggests they steal. That evening in the next small town, the three break into a general store, where a panicked Julio smashes the owner's head with a shovel when he shoots at Stein. Horrified to discover that the man is dead, Julio is overcome by hysterics as Stein rushes her outside and Alan steals guns, ammunition and dynamite. Meanwhile, the sheriff and highway patrol join forces to pursue Stein, who is soon linked to the general store murder. The next morning, as Alan siphons gas from a parked car, Stein and Julio spot a tuxedo and wedding dress on a fence rail, where just beyond the newlyweds are having sex in a field. Stein playfully steals then dresses in the couple's clothing, after which he and Julio check into a nearby motel. After a pleasant night, the young people awaken to the sound of sirens as the police arrive, but Stein and Julio race away while Alan escapes out the back. The sheriff and highway patrol then join forces with the community's pompous Chief of Police Perkins. Stalled because of damage to his motorcycle from the gunshots fired at them, Stein and Alan must wait until dark before they can break into a nearby junkyard to look for parts. Bored, Stein and Julio brazenly attend a conservative campaign party at the nearby country club attended by Perkins, before hastening to the junkyard. The next morning as Alan works on the bike, Julio admits her fear of a violent death at the hands of the police. Stein warily divulges that they could approach his father for help, although the two have been estranged since Stein ran away from the reservation when he was fifteen. Later, while Stein goes to check the highway for the police, Alan goes to a nearby trucker's diner for food. While Alan waits for his order, an argument between a married middle-aged couple at a nearby table escalates quickly. When the wife abruptly turns to Alan for help from her shouting husband, the man attacks Alan, beating him for several moments. Frightened and traumatized, Alan pulls a pistol and kills all six people in the diner before taking the food and returning to tell Julio and Stein who are shocked. Resuming their flight, the three young people are soon forced to take refuge in a mission when they spot a police roadblock. Stein asks Alan to marry him and Julio but once the two have dressed in the wedding clothes again, they are interrupted by the arrival of a Mexican woman and her daughter, to whom Julio leaves their diner food. Growing anxious when the roadblock shows no sign of lifting, Stein takes some of the stolen dynamite and, sneaking out to one of the empty police cars, blows it up. The threesome then continue their escape to Stein's father's house in Sandia Pueblo, unaware that their actions have been reported to Perkins, the sheriff and highway patrolmen as well as Hearn, who has kept pressure on the police regarding Stein. Upon arriving on the reservation, Stein is unaware that the alert local police also have spotted him. While Alan keeps watch from a nearby rooftop, Stein uncomfortably reunites with his father, who remains stiff and disapproving. When Stein tells Julio they cannot expect help, she pleads with the older man, and Stein attempts to explain that his crime was an accident. Outside, Alan spots a procession of police vehicles and hurries to warn Stein, only to be cut down in a hail of bullets from the approaching authorities. As the cars pull up to the small house, Stein drags Julio outside, while his father looks on sadly. Perkins remains in his car, while Hearn, brandishing a pistol, leaps out of the car to join the police as they gun down a protesting Stein.