Franklin Hardesty was the wheelchaired brother of Sally Hardesty. He drove out with his sister and their three friends: his sister's boyfriend Jerry, Kirk and his girlfriend, Pam to Muerto County to make certain that their grandfather's grave had not been desecrated during a recent rash of grave robbing incidents. While passing through town they picked up a hitchhiker Nubbins Sawyer, who turned out to be a crazed lunatic. Following a bit of uncomfortable unpleasantness, they kicked the man out of their vehicle and proceeded to their grandparents' old farmhouse. This idyllic summer afternoon soon turned into tragedy as one by one, all of Sally's friends were brutally murdered by a cannibalistic man known only as Leatherface. Sally watched in horror as her invalid brother Franklin was disemb