In California's poorest desert region, a colorful group of regulars and their dogs gather at Rob's internet cafe for coffee and WiFi in "the last free place in America".

Slab City is an anarchist squatter town in the Sonoran Desert, Southern California. The inhabitants live off the grid. Their closest neighbors are the United States Navy and Marine Corps, who practice aerial bombing and live fire in the area. Rob hates coffee - but wakes up at 6am every morning to prepare coffee for the customers of his ramshackle internet cafe. "Desert Coffee" sketches a warm, intimate portrait of Rob and his friends, who are a varied bunch of colorful, opinionated and troubled characters in "the last free place in America".