Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) gets out of prison in South Carolina to return to his girlfriend Lula Pace Fortune (Laura Dern). He was sent to prison on manslaughter charges when he tried to protect himself from a hitman hired by Lula's mother Marietta Fortune (Diane Ladd). Lula's mother hates Sailor and hires a private detective, Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton) to follow Sailor when he skips parole and convinces Lula to head West with him in his 1950's Thunderbird convertible. As they criss-cross the South on their way to California, they meet up with hit men sent by Marietta when Johnnie is able to confirm their location. Sailor is intent on keeping Lula safe from her mother and staying alive, himself. But he is not too smart when he robs a feed store with the help or his buddy Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe). Their wreckless actions put them all in danger of not reaching their destination.