A disenchanted young Professor of Semantics at a California college learns of a distant relative's death in Missouri. He journeys cross-country to the funeral, then decides to spend the summer there and work as a laborer for a power-line company. In time, he meets a girl and falls in love but then faces an important decision as to which direction he wants his life to go.

Gunfighter Wild Bill is haunted by dreams in which he faces a soulless menace out for vengeance. As Bill is driven to share his nightly terrors with other cowboys in the firelight, their reactions prove to be enlightening and humorous.

After arranging a meeting with a stranger from an online dating site, Valora falls victim to an abusive psychopath. But rather than trying to flee she decides to play his game and ultimately turn the tables on him, with the hunter becoming the hunted.