Barbara Evans is struck down after her first day of modeling on her dream job. Forced to a warm, dry environment to recuperate from surgery, she and her family go to the resort area at the Colorado River in Arizona.There she meets with both disaster and a new romantic relationship with Jim Stevenson. She also meets a wonderful friend, Peter Gray, who has emotional problems.The three young people form a bond of friendship, but also meet Jerome Dean, a mentally unbalanced man who wreaks havoc in their lives. A menace to society, he kidnaps Barbara and stabs one of Jims friends after failing to kill Jim by sabotaging his boat and trying to drown him and his two friends.