In a small town in the American Southwest, a boy murders two teenaged girls. Based on the actual incident,
Heat details the career of the individual, who may be psychotic, but whose magnetic personality draws everyone who knows him. After his first crime, Carroll Prine, the handsome killer, marries his best friend's girl and tries to settle down to a normal existence. But his need for recognition - or possibly punishment - drives him to kill again. The play's series of short, impressionistic scenes and sparse dialogue conveys bancruptcy of the characters' lives.