In 1969 New York City, anti-Vietnam protesters Fred Wouk and Hesus Monteya prepare for an upcoming rally with their friends, Ronnie Sunshine, Sammy Margolin, and Petra Black. Elsewhere, Agent Joe Brubaker instructs a team of undercover officers to infiltrate the protesters and arrest Fred and Hesus for draft dodging. At Ronnie’s boarding house, Fred kisses his girl friend, Petra. She expresses her desire for children, but Fred does not want to be tied down. When Agent Brubaker arrives to arrest Fred and Hesus, Ronnie denies they are there. Fred and Hesus soon flee, leaving their friends behind. Twenty years later, in a Central American country called Managuador, Fred has established himself as the leader of a jungle commune dubbed “Filmore South,” inhabited by thirty other “hippies.” They spend their days smoking marijuana and talking about farming, but accomplish nothing. Fred warns a resident named Merlin that if they return to civilization, they will get caught up in commercialism. One day, chaos erupts when militants chase a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative through the jungle, shooting at the man. Fred finds the injured agent, clutching top-secret documents. Before dying, he instructs Fred not to let the papers fall into enemy hands. Fred learns from the secret reports that the U.S. is planning to invade communist Managuador. Fearing another Vietnam, Fred decides that he and Hesus must return home and leak the information to the press, so that citizens will protest and prevent another war. They bid farewell to the commune, and return to New York City. Fred and Hesus are in awe of the changes that have occurred. They return to Ronnie’s boarding house to find that she has turned it into a “Nouveau Woodstock” dinner theater. Ronnie is stunned to see her old friends, and explains that she hates what has become of the boarding house. Elsewhere, Petra Black has become a wealthy businesswoman, but complains to her therapist about the emptiness she feels. When Fred and Hesus arrive at her door, she does not recognize them. After realizing that the hippies are her old friends, she asks them to leave, but they ignore her request and convince her to smoke marijuana with them. Meanwhile, Agent Bubaker learns the men have returned to New York City with the top-secret papers. Petra finally relaxes with her friends, and Fred suggests they go dancing at a nightclub, where Fred has a profound effect on Petra’s uptight friends. Returning to Petra’s apartment, Fred expresses his unwavering desire for her, and they make love. In the morning, Fred telephones his friend, Sammy Margolin, and asks to meet. However, Agent Brubaker arrives, and forces his way inside Petra’s home. Brubaker holds Petra at gunpoint, and demands Fred to give him the top-secret documents. Hesus emerges with a gun, and the men have a standoff. After experiencing Wild West hallucinations, Hesus shoots Brubaker in the hand. The trio flees, and seeks refuge at Sammy’s home, where Sammy and his wife, June, are in the midst of an interview with board members, April and Lloyd Stool, to buy a co-op apartment. The crazy hippies embarrass June, and she worries that they will lose their new apartment. However, the Stools, as well as Sammy and June’s teenage son, are amused by Sammy’s colorful friends. Lloyd Stool mentions a friend who works for the press, and Fred tells him about the secret documents, hoping to meet the reporter. However, Fred soon realizes that Lloyd Stool is a self-interested conservative. He insults Lloyd, and chastises Sammy for changing so much. The friends leave, and go to Ronnie’s boarding house. Soon after, Sammy arrives to apologize, and the old friends smoke marijuana and remember their hippie days. When Brubaker arrives, they sneak out the back and go to a local park to plan their next move. Fred suggests they take over the nearby New York University (NYU) campus and initiate a “sit-in.” Under cover of darkness, they enter a campus building and discuss their mission. Fred is stunned when Sammy and Petra catch him up on world events of the past twenty years. He wonders why his friends are not protesting the many atrocities that have occurred. However, Sammy and Petra turn the tables on Fred, and ask what he has been doing for the past twenty years in the jungle. Fred admits that his planned utopian society was never realized, and admits that he ran away from life. Hesus asserts that they now have a second chance to make things right. When the students arrive for their morning classes, they find the doors barred, and see a sign declaring, “Stop the War in Central America.” From a window several stories up, Fred makes a speech revealing U.S. plans to start another war, and appeals to the onlookers to protect the earth from escalating environmental problems. News cameras come to film the event, and Brubaker arrives, demanding the return of the incriminating documents. When he holds Fred at gunpoint, his friends sing patriotic songs and convince Brubaker to lower his gun. Elsewhere, Sammy’s son takes the documents to the New York Times, which publishes them. In time, however, the American people support the war in Central America, and Fred is devastated. Petra, Sammy, and Ronnie urge Fred to stay and protest the war, but he refuses. Fred bids farewell to his friends, and Hesus insists on joining him, although Fred he has no idea where he is going. Feeling lost, Fred sits on the sidewalk and begins to cry. A group of NYU students who heard Fred’s speech approach him, asking for his help to organize a protest against the toxic waste being dumped into a local river. Fred is moved by their request. Seeing him talking with the students, Petra smiles at him.