After a rough time working a night shift job in the city, Alvin is spending the summer on a remote two-man public works crew, painting lines on newly paved roads through what is a recently wildfire-ravaged region of Texas. He is camping along the way, living off the land, even doing so on his days off. He is what he considers a responsible man, earning and sending money to his girlfriend, Madison, a single mother, so that she need not concern herself with anything besides child rearing. The junior second that Alvin hires for his crew is Madison's brother, Lance. Alvin's controlling and judgmental nature comes to the surface in his dealings with more immature and irresponsible Lance, who goes back to the city on the weekends so that he can have "his little man squeezed", something he cannot understand in Alvin being without Madison or any woman for such a long stretch of time. Alvin prefers to stay in the burnt out woods on the weekends as being alone with his thoughts and his chores - many which he considers his life lessons - he believes helps him think more clearly about life. Although their lives are affected by the few people they meet along the way, it is the aftermath of one of Lance's weekends home that will forever change the nature of their relationship and their respective outlooks on life.
