For his directorial debut, Malick drew on the story of the Starkweather-Fugate murders from the 1950s, when a fifteen-year-old girl and her boyfriend, ten years her senior, went on a killing spree through the badlands of Nebraska and Wyoming. After bored young couple Kit (Martin Sheen) and Holly (Sissy Spacek) massacre Holly's entire family, the duo flee by car across the vast plains of America, their love fueled by senseless violence. Malick, the philosopher, filmmaker and recluse, paints a realistic but stylishly filmed portrait of a typically American phenomenon: that of the unexpectedly appearing killer who leaves behind a trail of death and devastation without motive. In later films, Malick took up some of the themes of his debut, such as the juxtaposition of human violence and scenic beauty as well as the fine line between (American) dream and nightmare.

Loan of the film print with kind support of Warner Bros.