Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsh) is a smart college graduate but one with altruistic dreams. Chris decides instead of following the routine, he'd rather give his life savings to charity, burn all of his identification, and hitchhike across America trying to get to Alaska desiring to escape society and get back to nature. He hitchhikes, hops trains, and hangs out with hippies (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker). He also works briefly with a farmer (Vince Vaughan), and is befriended by a widowed leather worker (Hal Holbrook). He enjoys his liberating freedom, but his parents (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) worry that they don't know where he is and are crushed by his disappearance. Chris makes it to Alaska, where he delves further into nature. He hikes out to a far and remote campsite and discovers an abandoned bus. He decides to set up life there and manages to survive there for a few months living off the land -- living his version of the American Dream. But as his supplies dwindle he becomes trapped by the land he so valiantly sought out leading to tragedy.