On August 18, 1973, five young adults – Erin, her boyfriend Kemper, and their friends Morgan, Andy, and Pepper – are on their way to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert after traveling to Mexico to purchase marijuana. While driving through Texas, the group picks up a distraught and severely traumatised hitchhiker they see walking in the middle of the road. After they try to talk with the hitchhiker, who speaks incoherently about "Leatherface", she pulls a loaded revolver out of her pocket and shoots herself in the mouth.