After her fifteenth birthday, Rachel McKnight, a member of a Mormon fundamentalism community in Utah, listens to a cassette recorder for the first time and hears a cover of "Hanging on the Telephone" by an obscure rock band on a blue cassette. Her brother, Mr. Will, takes it from her, stating that it is to be used only for God's purposes. When she discovers she is pregnant, she is convinced that she has conceived miraculously, like the Mary (mother of Jesus), through the medium of the cassette. After being questioned by her parents, Mr. Will is blamed for impregnating her, and is asked to leave the community, while Rachel is told she will be married the next day. Rather than undergo a shotgun marriage arranged by her father, Paul, she escapes to Las Vegas, along with Mr. Will, who is sleeping in the bed of the family's pickup truck.