A broken down van strands a group of college students in the middle of the desert. Forced to hike their way out, they unwittingly enter a sacred Indian burial ground...A place they should have left alone.

David, a naive graduate student, has volunteered to work as a 'buddy' for people dying of AIDS. Assigned to the intensely political Robert, a lifelong activist whose friends and family have abandoned him following his diagnosis, the two men, each with notably different world views, soon discover common bonds, as David's inner activist awakens and Robert's need for emotional release is fulfilled.

Brutally abused by his parents, teenage Thomas finds comfort in associating with a film director who is making a documentary about physical child abuse. The two fall in love, and the elder is faced with the decision of either running away with Thomas or focusing on his career and thereby letting the boy possibly be beaten to death.