The day he receives his driver's license back following a six month suspension for reckless driving, nineteen year old Joe Spring, with his parents' reluctant blessing, leaves their Aldergrove, British Columbia home on Friday night following work for the several hours drive to Quesnel, British Columbia for a party, he stating that he will be home on Monday. He promises to telephone his mother, Teresa Spring, once he arrives in Quesnel the following morning. But she never receives the telephone call, he doesn't answer her repeated calls, and subsequently she receives a call from Joe's stoned friend Eric in Quesnel stating that Joe never made it to the party. Teresa feels the need to do something to locate Joe, which is made all the more difficult because of husband Tim Spring's more relaxed attitude thus far about Joe's whereabouts. Tim, who has been out of work now for several years, has basically shut down in life, which has affected his relationship with his entire family. The police too are reluctant to do anything until Joe officially can be listed as missing, which is 24 hours after his scheduled arrival home on Monday, and because they may feel that Teresa is being a mother out of touch with the true life of a reckless son. Teresa becomes more concerned when she learns that Joe lied about his whereabouts Friday night, he spending it in town with his girlfriend Patti, and that he no longer has his cell phone with him following an argument with Patti. Once Teresa finds a more sympathetic police officer in the form of RCMP sergeant Al Ramey at the Hope detachment, they can start following up on the only lead they have, that being that he may have stopped to see an unknown girl named Lucinda in the small town of Chasm. But they have to work fast as after eight days, their search can only be officially deemed a recovery mission rather than a rescue if they believe Joe was in an accident.