Bright is a struggling screenwriter in his mid-30s with more than his share of angst. While his ex-girlfriend moved to L.A. and became a rising star in an independent film produced by an old college chum, Bright remained in a far-off town, wasting his talent writing for the local paper and playing video games on the big screen with his two slacker friends, good-looking Gallus and the unbalanced Dick. To make matters worse, Bright has contracted a skin condition, a sun-light-allergy, that makes him even more of a hermit. Hoping to break out of their doldrums and have some real excitement, the three bickering guys set out on a road trip through the desert to a video game expo in Tinsel Town. Bright has an assignment to write an article on the expo, but the prospect of being that close to his ex-girlfriend is giving him second thoughts. As they give a ride to Stella, an attractive and perceptive young woman who seems wise beyond her years, their camaraderie degenerates into insults until, stranded in a desert hick town under merciless sun, Bright receives the blistering insight that enables him to turn his life around.