Two independent truck drivers, one a veteran and the other his young, college-educated partner, get involved with a group of beleaguered citrus growers.
Will and Sonny stop to help a young trucker when he almost runs them off of the road. When they find that he is very ill, they determine to give him "The Time of His Life". This includes bowling and girls.
Sonny agrees to give a fellow trucker's daughter a ride to her mother's place, not knowing she's a juvenile craps shooting prodigy, and that Red is in trouble with a loan shark.
Will is taking a shortcut through the country when he spots fresh skid marks leading off the road to a bullet-riddled car. He and Sonny soon learn why the car is there: a modern-day Bonnie & Clyde . . . plus one.
Will and Sonny deliver pipe casings to an Idaho wildcat oil well driller, and he hires them to be in charge of oil transportation before the well comes in.
Will, Sonny, and fellow trucker Ike run afoul of a small-town police officer and his speed trap, and they get involved in a series of "touch" football games that turn out rougher, and with higher stakes, than expected.
Will and Sonny haul auctioned farm equipment for the Hoots, an old-world farming colony, and get involved in a dispute between them and the surrounding farmers.
Will and Sonny pull a load of fresh eggs (and a trailer with a broken refrigerator) into Las Vegas, where Will meets two friends from back east: Rita, who is now a card dealer, and her ex-husband Chuck, a former stunt driver.
While in a cafe in Las Vegas, Sonny moans to Will about how depressing it is to spend Christmas on the road. So they head for Phoenix for dinner with Sonny's uncle, but end up with Sonny's ex-wife instead.
Will and Sonny deliver two trucks to an eccentric old lady who has an antique Benz that she restored herself. The next day it's gone and she accuses them of stealing it.
While detouring around a road construction site, Will and Sonny are trapped by a landslide on a wilderness road, along with six other people: a runaway and her boyfriend, an alcoholic trumpeter and his estranged med-student son, and a man and his wife towing their RV.
After delivering a load to a San Diego cannery, Sonny gets a case of hams for his lady friend, but when she opens one, it is full of military ammunition. Then Will and Sonny go undercover to help find the rest of the stolen munitions.
In San Diego after making a delivery at the Navy docks, Sonny runs into his old Navy buddy, who enlists Sonny and Will in a chase to catch his truckin' sweetheart.
After delivering a load of fabric to a San Diego clothing manufacturer, Will and Sonny are drawn into a ransom delivery after Sonny's friend, the company's VP, is kidnapped.
Sonny assists a woman, Nina, when her car breaks down near Sausalito, loading her car into the trailer and taking it to a repair shop. Sparks fly between them, and they make plans to marry.