Train fanatic Tom Stark's job enjoyment stops shielding him from grief over his wife Megan's now terminal cancer when Laura Danner commits suicide by planting her car on the railway just before Tom's train arrives. Tom's colleague Otis, who never got over a hobo doing the same on foot, resigns, Tom is suspended. It's even worse for Laura's fatherless son Davey, who loses his home too. He escapes from a monstrous foster-ma's home and tracks down Tom's home. Megan, who was about to leave without allowing him to get closer again during her last weeks, promises to stay if they take on Davey. Boy and childless couple soon grow on each-other, but a social worker is on Davey's trail.

Ronnie Reno (Klein) is a former TV action hero in dire need of a comeback. On his way back from a failed audition he winds up snowbound in a remote Nevada town run by scary meth dealers, including Merle (Busey), and their henchman (Durst). When he finds the body of a dead FBI agent there, life imitates Reno's art as he is forced to reunite with his former co-stars, including Devon (Beach), to save himself and the terrorized townsfolk.