Description
Jack Ryan (Ryan O\'Neal) quits his job as picker on a California farm after assaulting Comacho (Victor Paul), one of his Mexicano co-workers. Jack\'s boss orders him to leave town -- which he intends to do, but not before visiting a local bar to wait for the next bus. While having a drink, Jack meets the town judge, Sam Mirakian (Van Heflin). Jack\'s honest but crusty attitude appeals to Sam, who offers him a job as handyman at his nearby motel. Jack accepts. At the motel, he cultivates a relationship with young, hot Nancy Barker (Leigh Taylor-Young), the secretary/mistress to Ray Ritchie (James Daly), a local agricultural magnate who has provided a spacious beach house for Nancy. She and Jack have several playful nighttime escapades along the beach, where she displays her penchant for antisocial and disruptive behavior. They soon become lovers. However, when her boss, Ray, orders Nancy to have sex with a senator in exchange for a business favor, she objects and realizes her stay at the beach house may soon end.
One evening, while Nancy takes Jack for a drive along a coastal highway outside of town, a pair of unruly teen-age boys in a dune-buggy attempt to hassle them off the road. But Nancy knows that game; she spitefully forces them into a violent mishap, seriously injuring them. The lovers, realizing potential problems with the law, abandon the scene without offering aid. The next morning, Judge Sam warns Jack off Nancy, whose behavior has become increasingly unstable and erratic. Later, Jack is relieved to learn that the two boys survived the highway wreck.
That evening, while waiting for Jack to arrive for more fun and games, Nancy spies a man outside attempting to break in. She grabs a handgun and kills him. The intruder turns out to be Camacho. But when Jack comes upon the scene, he interrogates Nancy and then correctly deduces that she intended to murder him, not Comacho. Dismissing his accusation, Nancy announces her intent to tell the police Camacho meant to harm her, so she shot him in self-defense. To strengthen her version of events, she goes on a destructive spree throughout the house. The authorities buy her story, and she is exonerated. However, Nancy and Jack decide to separate and leave town -- for good.
