Based on the short story "The Silent Towns" by Ray Bradbury. The story was first published in Charm (March 1949).

When Walter goes to the theater, the movie he watches is footage from "Usher II". it was directed by Lee Tamahori, the same director of this episode.

Changes from the short story:

* Walter is a miner in the story, but appears to be a dam worker in the episode.
* Walter has an imaginary (?) girlfriend in the episode, who isn't mentioned in the story.
* In the episode, Walter has a cell phone that lets him maintain constant contact with Genevieve during his trip. In the story, he has no such phone, drives to the town where she's originally at, and discovers that she's traveled to the town he was at. He then travels back and finds her.
* In the story, Genevieve is much more physically repulsive, explaining Walter's initial aversion to her. In the episode, he rather offensively takes an instant dislike to her based simply on the fact that she's merely "Hollywood overweight."