The film begins in the small rural Texan community of Texarkana where the town is preparing the annual Texarkana Town festival in 1975. A group of youths led by dominating local jock Russell Underwood (Theo James) and his girlfriend Rita Sampson (Jaimie Alexander) are tasked with being the chair organisers for this year's festival despite their wishes for that fateful evening, Jessica has a letter written for crush and fellow organiser James Hustle (Chris Lowell) their former school's popular Varsity Jock, a letter set aside made up photo collages from a time when they dated.