Breakdown

As the sun-kissed highway unwinds before them, married couple Jeff (Kurt Russell) and Amy Taylor (Kathleen Quinlan) embark on a cross-country journey from Boston to California. Their tranquil drive is disrupted when they narrowly avoid colliding with another truck in rural New Mexico. The encounter leaves a lasting impression, as Jeff later confronts the driver, Earl (M.C. Gainey), a rough-around-the-edges cowboy at a gas station. Despite being the other driver's fault, Earl still manages to hurl insults at Jeff, who stands his ground until Amy returns and they leave.

The tranquility is short-lived, however, as their car succumbs to the harsh desert conditions and breaks down in the middle of nowhere. With no cell phone signal to rely on, Amy accepts a ride from friendly trucker "Red" Barr (J.T. Walsh) to a small diner five miles away to seek assistance. Jeff, determined to diagnose the problem himself, discovers disconnected wires and sets off towards the diner, only to find his wife is nowhere to be found.

A frantic search ensues as Jeff spots Barr's truck and takes matters into his own hands by running him off the road. The trucker denies any knowledge of Jeff or Amy, and a brief search of his vehicle yields nothing. As the sun dips below the horizon, Jeff flags down a passing sheriff (Rex Linn), who is unable to locate Amy despite searching Barr's truck. It becomes clear that Jeff must report his wife missing at a local police station.

At the station, Deputy Kim Robillard advises Jeff to return to the diner and wait for Amy to turn up. However, Jeff finds the patrons and owner of the diner unwilling to cooperate or provide any assistance. When he insists on reviewing receipts from the last few hours, the diner owner brandishes a rifle, forcing Jeff to leave empty-handed.

With his options dwindling, Jeff is left with no choice but to wait at the diner for Amy's return, his anxiety and concern growing with each passing minute. The once-peaceful drive has turned into a desperate search for his wife, as the vast expanse of the desert stretches out before him like an unforgiving unknown.

As Jeff's anxious search for his missing wife, Amy, outside the diner yields nothing but a series of blank stares, he chances upon Billy (Jack Noseworthy), a rustic local with a penchant for simplicity. Billy's information proves to be the first tangible lead in Jeff's quest, as he reveals that Amy arrived at a rural location accompanied by Red and departed in another truck driven by a rugged cowboy. However, Billy's words are laced with caution, warning Jeff to steer clear of law enforcement, suggesting they may be complicit in her disappearance.

Following Billy's cryptic directions, Jeff finds himself navigating the winding roads of a desolate landscape, only to be confronted by Earl at a construction site. A brief and intense pursuit ensues before Jeff makes his escape by driving his Jeep into the river, where he becomes buoyant, drifting downstream as the vehicle sinks beneath the surface. As fate would have it, Jeff's attackers are salvaging the wreckage when he re-emerges from the water, only to be quickly subdued by Billy.

Regaining consciousness in the trunk of a car, Jeff is greeted by Billy, now shedding his simpleton act. The erstwhile mechanic demands to know how much cash Jeff possesses, which serves as the basis for a twisted negotiation: Amy's freedom will be exchanged for a substantial sum of money - $90,000, to be exact. Billy and Earl haul Jeff out of the trunk and present him to their ringleader, none other than Red Barr, who outlines his demands with cold calculation. With his wife's life hanging in the balance, Jeff is left no choice but to comply, knowing that any deviation from the plan will result in Amy's gruesome demise at the hands of her captors.

As Jeff navigates the local bank, his plan to withdraw the assumed amount of money takes a drastic turn. Realizing he only has a fraction of the expected sum, Jeff attempts to discreetly alert the bank manager to his predicament. However, paranoia sets in when a stranger enters the bank and begins scrutinizing him, prompting Jeff to abandon his initiative. Instead, he contemplates making a hasty exit through a back window in the men's room but ultimately decides against it. With newfound resolve, Jeff returns to the lobby of the bank, where he seizes the opportunity to pilfer marked money ribbons and a letter opener knife from the manager's desk. He cleverly uses the ribbons to conceal stacks of $1 bills between two $100 bills before making his way out of the bank with the ill-gotten gains.

Meanwhile, Jeff receives a cryptic message via payphone from Barr, instructing him to abandon the town and walk away, where he is promptly picked up by Earl. As they share a moment of gloating over how easily Jeff and his wife were duped, Earl's triumphant tone falters when he discovers that Jeff has artfully stacked the bundles using the pilfered ribbons from the bank manager's desk. Seizing the opportunity, Jeff seizes the letter opener knife he had previously stolen and uses it to free himself from the duct tape binding his hands and feet, before forcing Earl out of the driver's seat and securing him with more duct tape.

As the truck careens erratically down the road, Jeff subjects Earl to a harrowing ordeal, employing the vehicle's brakes to constrict him into revealing the whereabouts of Amy. Just as Jeff is about to extract the final drop of information from Earl, the same sheriff who had been featured at the beginning of the film appears on the scene, responding to the erratic driving and attempting to apprehend both Earl and Jeff. Jeff promptly surrenders when ordered, discarding Earl's pistol in the process. However, Earl manages to free himself and returns fire with a concealed pistol in his boot, striking down the sheriff. Just as Earl is about to deliver the finishing blow to Jeff, the wounded sheriff regains his composure and dispatches Earl with a fatal shot.

With Earl neutralized, Jeff seizes the opportunity to call for medical assistance using the sheriff's radio and makes his escape, leaving behind the injured lawman in search of his wife.

As Earl's absence continues to frustrate Jeff, he focuses on another lead, spotting the notorious Red Barr (character name not provided) engrossed in a hushed phone conversation at the truck stop. The astute observer seizes the opportunity to slip onto Barr's moving truck as it departs, expertly hiding himself within the tractor's spoiler after an arduous climb up the trailer's spare tire rack. As the night wears on, Jeff becomes an invisible passenger, silently riding shotgun with Red Barr as they arrive at their family farm just before dawn.

Here, Jeff discovers a sinister plot unfolding beneath the surface. He watches in horror as Barr, Billy (character name not provided), and Al, a tow truck driver, snatch Amy from a hidden compartment within a moving van that also contains Jeff's own Jeep. The trio locks her away in a freezer deep within the barn's basement, intending to suffocate her. Meanwhile, Jeff uncovers the extent of Red's depraved activities, which have left a trail of unsuspecting travelers and truckers brutally murdered and robbed.

Jeff's frustration grows as he fails to pry open the trap door leading to the basement. Undeterred, he finds solace in the moving van's arsenal and demands the keys from Red, whose son Deke appears with a rifle, threatening Jeff. However, after a tense standoff, Deke accidentally shoots Al in the arm when Jeff successfully disarms him. Billy seizes this opportunity to make his escape, fleeing through an open window as Jeff forces Red to return to the barn.

As tensions escalate, Red's wife Arlene opens the barn door, freeing Amy from her icy prison and revealing a hidden bunker beneath their feet. Faced with the reality of their situation, Jeff locks everyone in the basement before making a daring escape with Amy in a nearby abandoned trailer home's pickup truck. They manage to flee just as Billy frees his cohorts, narrowly escaping as Red drives his tractor-trailer through the trailer home in hot pursuit.

As the morning sun rises over the desolate highway, a heart-pumping and relentless car chase unfolds as Billy (character), Al, and Red pursue Jeff and Amy on a treacherous stretch of asphalt. The pursuit is marked by a series of intense moments: Billy's ill-fated attempt to outmaneuver Jeff results in his vehicle being sent careening off the road, where it explodes in a blaze of flames, leaving him fatally wounded. Meanwhile, Al's trailer detaches from Red's truck, sending his own vehicle crashing into it with devastating force, seemingly ending his life as well. Undaunted, Red presses on, employing his big rig to try and send Jeff and Amy's vehicle plummeting off the bridge, inadvertently trapping Amy's leg beneath the dashboard. The desperate Jeff rushes out of their vehicle and onto the road, where he engages in a fierce struggle with Red over the steering wheel, ultimately forcing Red's truck over the edge, leaving it precariously perched on a steel support beam. As Jeff clings to the suspended big rig, Red attempts to whip him loose with a chain, but Jeff seizes hold of it and manages to regain his footing just as Red loses his balance and falls to the rocky outcropping below. With Amy finally free from her ordeal, the two share a moment of relief as they gaze down upon the seemingly lifeless form of their tormentor, only for Red to suddenly stir, prompting Amy's wrath to boil over. Seizing control of their pickup truck's automatic shifter, she sends it crashing down onto Red's trapped vehicle, crushing him beneath its weight. As the dust settles, Jeff and Amy sit together in the middle of the bridge, exhausted but grateful to have emerged unscathed from their harrowing experience, the camera capturing their shared relief as they survey the aftermath of their desperate bid for freedom.