Retch Barter waits on a waterless ranch for a driller to sink his well. Come to Mexico in bad company and running from a sordid past, Retch lives with Dolores Anguamea, a dark-skinned woman whose history is as scarred as her pockmarked face. While Retch stakes his future on the arrival of the driller, Dolores waits for a chance to quit the godforsaken ranch.

Driller speaks to the hopelessness of redemption and the sinister power of desire.