College student Lewis Thomas (Paul Walker) is ready to come back home for holidays by plane. After a call from his high school friend Venna Wilcox (Leelee Sobieski),  who doesn't know that Lewis is interested in her romantically, he decides to change his plane ticket with a car and drive across the country to pick up her home too. Unfortunately for his plans, Lewis has to bail his older brother, Fuller Thomas (Steve Zahn), out of jail. During the trip, Fuller buy a CB radio, starting to chat with truck’s drivers.

Fuller coaxes Lewis into playing a cruel joke, pretending to be a woman, on another truck driver, known only as 'Rusty Nail' (voice by Ted Levine), but they lost the signal. They stop at a motel for the night, where Rusty calls again. Fuller, looking for a good time, ask Lewis to make woman’s voice again, arranging to meet Rusty at the motel, but giving him the wrong room’s number. Through the wall they heard some strange rumors on the next room, but everything seem to be ok. Next morning, police tells the guys that a man was found on the highway, badly hurted, jawless, pratically in coma. It was the man next door. They tells police everything about the joke, and police invite them to leave the State as soon as they can. But in the night, Rusty calls them again, making them understand that he’s right behind them. They’re runnig out of gas, so they turn out of the highway, looking for the closest gas station. In here, while Lewis’s calling for the police, an ice truck arrives. Scared that it could be Rusty, they fastly run away, but the ice truck run after them, until they’re forced to stop on a death road. But it was just a normal driver, who’s running after them to give Lewis the credit card he’s forgot at the gas station. But Rusty was right behind them, and they’re forced to run again, ending to be stopped against a tree, slowly compressed by Rusty’s truck. They really apologise to Rusty for the joke, and he let them go.

They return on the highway, and Fuller thrown away the CB radio. They reach Venna’s college, where they’re introduced on Venna’s roommate Charlotte (Jessica Bowden). Lewis, Venna, and Fuller go on on their trip, stopping at a motel for the night. While Lewis is sleeping, an Venna and Fuller are drinking in another room, Rusty gives them a ring, noticing with pleasure the presence of Venna. They found the old CB on the trunk, and Rusty tells them that he’s got Charlotte. If they wants her saved, they should follow his instructions. They should meet him near a corn field, but when they’re out of the car, Rusty begin to run after them trought the corn, trying to kill them. They escape but Rusty gets Venna too, and burn the car, giving Lewis and Fuller the order to reach him in the next town’s motel at midnight. He prepare a mechanism, if they open the door, they shoot to Venna, tied to a chair right in front of the door. Rusty’s arranged the meet in the wrong room, as they did with him, but they understand so, and Fuller run on the back ot the building, but Rusty stop him, hanging him on a fence, hurted with a sting on a leg. Fuller instead advise Lewis to do not open the door, or he’s gonna kill Venna, and Lewis try to save his brother from Rusty’s revenge.

Police arrive, previously called by Rusty, and start to open all the rooms. Lewis save Fuller taking him down from the fence and Venna from the shoot, but Rusty wasn’t stopped and he drive right into the room with the truck, killing himself in the impact. Charlotte is found scared, but untouched, also in the trunk. The nightmare seems to be ended.

The speaking voice for 'Rusty Nail' was provided by Ted Levine, most famous for portraying 'Buffalo Bill' in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

Four different versions of the ending were shot, plus another planned with storyboards.

Eric Stoltz and Eric Roberts auditioned for the role of "Rusty Nail".

During the opening credits, when the camera pans around Paul Walker's room, a toy model of the car is visible on the dresser.

As Lewis is looking at his map in the car, his finger follows the road from Red Rock past Green River and down SW. Director John Dahl's earlier motel based thriller was Red Rock West (1992).

In one scene, a seemingly maniacal ICE truck pulls up to a gas station that the brothers have pulled up to. In Duel (1971/I) (TV), a likewise maniacal truck pulls up to our hero (David Mann) and a small billboard for ICE is visible in the background.

During the course of the movie, watch the LED signal strength indicator lights on the brothers' CB radio. The first four indicator lights change colors in nearly every scene, including bright green, dark green, yellow, red, and crimson. This is obviously intentional and not a series of continuity errors.

To avoid the unpleasant effects of having to remove Scotch tape from Leelee Sobieski's hair and skin after the take, she was tied up with a strong, thick plastic film (like thick Saran Wrap) which looked like tape and stuck almost like tape, but which was glueless, making its removal simple and fuss-free.

Was renamed 'Roadkill' in the UK, since taking a 'Joy Ride'  is not the pleasant journey it is in the states, rather the name for when youths steal cars and race each other or the cops and eventually total and dump the car.

The car they are driving is a 1971 Chrysler Newport.

The sequel, Joy Ride 2, with different characters, is released on DVD on October 2008.