Set primarily in 1975 in the fictional town of Gatlin, Nebraska, the film centers on traveling couple Burt and Vicky as they fight to survive a cult of murderous children who worship an entity known as "He Who Walks Behind the Rows", which had years earlier manipulated the children into killing every adult in town.

[1] The film was panned by critics for Borchers' directing and writing, special effects, acting (particularly McClure) and lack of character development.

Twelve years later, Burt, a Vietnam veteran, and his temperamental wife Vicky, travel through rural Nebraska to save their crumbling marriage with a second honeymoon.

The couple stops and examine Joseph's corpse and find out that his throat was slashed before being run over, Burt puts Joseph's body inside the car's trunk, heads to the cornfields and finds Joseph's briefcase, Burt returns back to his car, informs Vicky about the briefcase, they then decide to go to Gatlin to report the incident, not knowing that they are being watched by Isaac Chroner, a nine-year-old boy and the current leader of the cult and his second-in-command, the 18-year-old Malachai Boardman.

Meanwhile, Isaac informs the cult about the couple's presence and they are similar to "the blue man", a police officer who was one of the sacrifices.

Burt finds the church empty, with its crucifix identical to the one that was in Joseph's suitcase, while Vicky is being stalked by the cult.

Night soon falls, and the cult abandon the search and head to the church, where two teenage members, a girl and a boy, walk to the stand, disrobe and have sex in front of Isaac and the entire congregation.

Meanwhile, Burt, now lost in the cornfields, wanders aimlessly, searching for the road and having a nightmare of those he killed, intentionally and accidentally.

", and this scarecrow is revealed to be Burt's corpse, Isaac soon leaves after burning a tarp with the dead cult members.