In summer of 1958, Barry and Claudette, two Camp Crystal Lake counselors, sneak into a storage barn to copulate. Before they can engage, an unseen assailant enters and murders them.
21 years later, Annie Phillips enters a small diner and asks directions to the reopened Camp Crystal Lake. Enos, a truck driver agrees to drive Annie halfway. An elder named Ralph reacts to this by warning Annie that the camp has a "death curse". During the drive, Enos explains that a young boy drowned at Crystal Lake in 1957, and the incident the following year. After Enos drops her off, Annie hitches a ride, but the second driver then chases her into the woods and slashes her throat.