William Blake (Johnny Depp) set out on an exciting journey to start his life over in a new town with a new job. He never could have prepared himself for what was to come. Through a mysterious chain of events, he becomes involved in a love triangle that ends in a double murder--with him as the suspect. Alone and scared, he tries to escape, but soon discovers that he is being hunted down by men who have been paid to find and kill him, and befriends a Native American loner, 'Nobody' (Gary Farmer), who believes that he is the English poet 'William Blake', teaches him to face the dangers that follow a "dead man."