 Convicted murderers Lita Morgan and Caroline Craig make an unplanned escape from Rendell State Prison when a guard suffers a heart attack. They stop (and kill) a passing motorist and are able to use his car to get into a nearby town to steal clothes, money, and guns. They abandon the car and hijack a bus in a rural area in order to get through a Highway Patrol roadblock, but Dan Mathews and Sergeant Williams are suspicious of the bus s apparent paucity of passengers and follow it. The two women abandon the bus and make a desperate bid for freedom by separating, but they are physically and psychologically unable to cope with the rough terrain and the Highway Patrol s relentless pursuit.