At a small college, Quaid and his friend Stephen do a "fear study" as a school project, recording people talking about their greatest fears. Quaid, however, is quite psychopathic and wants to take the fear to 'the next level'. Quaid had seen his parents killed by an axe murderer as a child; this is his greatest fear, and he wants to learn what others dread and how they deal with it, in order to find a way to defy his own dread. Stephen's brother had died while drunk-driving, and Stephen wonders if his brother would still be alive if he had driven instead.