Called by its creator “an acid trip western,” DEAD MAN begins with accountant William Blake (Depp) on his way out west to the town of Machine. A chance encounter with a prostitute leads to tragedy, and he is forced to go on the run. Bounty hunters and lawmen on his trail, he meets a Native American named Nobody (Farmer) who soon becomes convinced Blake is the reincarnation of the poet William Blake. Intent on returning Blake to the spirit world, they begin a journey to the ocean that will lead them to encounter all the desolation, beauty, and death that defined the decline of the West in myth and fiction.