As The Straight Story begins, the audience sees the night sky sprinkled with stars before the scene changes into a large field where a man is driving a tractor. Then, we see a small town and a small house where Rose, Alvin's 40-year-old daughter who is a little slow, and Dorothy, her neighbor, call a greeting to each other. At the back of Rose's house, we hear someone fall while Dorothy returns to her seat in the sun.

In a building, a man named Bud tells friends that he's going to go over to Alvin's house. Bud goes to find Alvin, and when he arrives at the house, Dorothy shouts that Rose went out earlier. He walks to the back of the house and finds Alvin inside on the floor. Bud calls Dorothy inside, who wants to call 911 after she sees Alvin, but Alvin...