In 1958, two adolescents embark on a cross-country drive in their pride and joy, a hopped-up Chevy, in order to compete in the National Championship drag races in California. Along the way, they meet a pretty but dingy waitress who quits her job and hops in their car—and proves to be more trouble than they anticipated—drag-race a gang of town punks who lose to them and then accuse them of cheating, and come up against a local cop who is obsessed with arresting these two "juvenile delinquents."