A young girl, Dorothy Mahler, is hiking on a nature trail near to downtown Los Angeles when two dimwitted street dealers, Jesse and Mathew, turn up by chance. She borrows the phone of one and calls Mel Samson, a private investigator, whom she had met earlier, saying she needs his help because some bad guys in the city are angry with her. While waiting for Samson to arrive, Dorothy takes ecstasy given to her by the dealers, who have to go but promise to come back for her later. Dorothy begins talking to Skippy Fontaine, a seemingly friendly park ranger. Dorothy and Fontaine chat until we see that there is a dead body nearby. Suddenly Fontaine attacks Dorothy and strangles her. The returning Jesse and Matthew come across her body and believe that she overdosed on the drugs they gave her, and they run away in fear. Samson arrives, too late, to find Dorothy dead.
