The Thing is about a desert roadside attraction run by the gruff, weathered Beau and his eighteen-year-old daughter Layla, who possesses an unexplained clairvoyant gift. When Marylyn stops in with her partner, Peter, everyone's life is upended. Marylyn continues to find herself drawn back to the attraction repeatedly over the course of the years, each visit a pilgrimage. Threaded through her returns is the story of Layla wrestling with whether to leave the desert behind and forge her own path, and Beau contending with the loss of his son and the potential loss of his daughter.

The play explores the themes of passivity v action, motherhood, and the ways women are contained, whether by choice, circumstances, or others' expectations.