As "Far Out Man" Chong fries eggs in a messy kitchen at his Hippie Land aerie, his daughter, Rae Dawn Chong, approaches in a Jeep with psychiatrist Dr. Liddledick. Rae Dawn explains that her mother left Far Out Man twenty years earlier, and his girl friend, Tree, left him ten years earlier, and now he lives alone. Far Out Man is wealthy because a Rolls Royce knocked him down and his lawyer convinced the judge he suffered “brain damage.” Meanwhile, Tree visits “Nu Age Junior Highe Skool,” because principal Weebee Cool expelled her son, Kyle, for reading too much. At the “skool,” students watch television and discuss “life lessons” in programs like Gilligan’s Island. Cool suggests “rock and roll therapy” for Kyle and directs Tree to a concert that night by a rock group called The Fartz. At Hippie Land, Dr. Liddledick hypnotizes Far Out Man with his swinging pocket watch, and also tries to put the movie audience in a trance, intoning, “You’ll like this film. Tell a friend.” Far Out Man remembers how Tree grabbed their baby and left him because he fired her from his band. He remembers how he and Tree felt love at first sight, and had sex in the restaurant where she worked. Far Out Man recalls starting Hippie Land as a psychedelic carnival, but an amusement ride made from two giant tires goes awry and almost kills Bobby, his African American band mate. After Dr. Liddledick administers a brain-waves test and sees nothing registering on the monitor, he estimates Far Out Man’s intelligence somewhere between “plankton” and “a toaster,” and suggests he work as a politician or a “roadie” for a rock band. When the doctor reminds himself he has to be in Torrance, California, in an hour, Far Out Man thinks the words came from his own head. Telling himself he needs to be in Torrance in an hour, Far Out Man hooks a trailer filled with guitars and amplifiers to his semi truck cab and leaves. Meanwhile, Tree admonishes Kyle for reading and listening to classical music, and reminds him that her boyfriend, actor C. Thomas Howell, has graciously paid his “skool” tuition. To improve Kyle’s education, she decides to take him to a Fartz concert. C. Thomas Howell drives them to a warehouse where The Fartz are playing, but Kyle accidentally becomes intoxicated in a marijuana smoke-filled bathroom and knocks over a motorcycle. Forced to hide from a vengeful biker gang, he slips into the back of Far Out Man’s semi and passes out from the effects of the marijuana. Far Out Man apologizes to The Fartz’s manager, Lou Johnson, for being late. The manager tells him the band is playing the following night in Fresno, California, so Far Out Man returns to his truck and drives north, not realizing Kyle is sleeping in the back. On the highway to Fresno, Far Out Man nearly falls asleep, but he dreams that his old movie partner, Cheech Marin, pokes his head from behind the curtain and tells him to wake up. Cheech brags that nowadays he has “movie deals all over town,” so why is Far Out Man making a crappy movie like Far Out Man. When Far Out Man stops to urinate, Kyle wakes up and urinates on the other side of the truck, then leaps into the passenger seat as Far Out Man starts driving again. Not recognizing his adolescent son, he thinks Kyle is a hitchhiker. Kyle does not want to go to Fresno, but Far Out Man hires him as an assistant roadie and promises to have him back home in two days. The next morning, at a Fresno café, Kyle telephones his mother, but after telling her where he is, he is forced to hang up because Far Out Man gets into a fight with several locals and hurriedly drives away. Meanwhile, Tree and C. Thomas rush to Whitman Airport where he keeps his airplane. Television reporter Holly Turnbull recognizes C. Thomas as a member of Hollywood’s “Brat Pack,” and Tree uses the opportunity to make an on-air plea for the return of her missing son. When Far Out Man finds the Fresno club where The Fartz are playing, manager Lou Johnson demands that he fulfill the standard roadie job of supplying everyone with cocaine. Far Out Man buys various white powders, including the B-vitamin niacin, at a drug store and mixes a batch of homemade “blow.” When Lou snorts it, the powder knocks him senseless. Elsewhere, C. Thomas Howell and Tree, having landed in Fresno, meet a private detective at the café where Kyle was last seen with an older man. That night, after the rock concert, groupies join Far Out Man in his motel room, where he smokes marijuana in the bathtub. In another room, groupies think Lou is dead and steal everything, but just as they are ready to pull the gold from his teeth, Lou stirs from his torpor. Far Out Man shocks Lou fully awake by placing a faulty electric guitar in his hands and plugging it in. Lou tells Far Out Man to return to Los Angeles for the next gig. Far Out Man is surprised to find that a groupie named Misty has spiked Kyle’s hair and dyed it neon yellow. Far Out Man returns to Los Angeles, drives onto the film set of his actress daughter, Rae Dawn, and interrupts her “big scene.” She tells him she saw Tree on television at Whitman Airport, pleading for her missing son’s return. Thinking he can finally see his boy, Far Out Man stops at a toy store, buys several plastic guns that look like automatic weapons and anti-tank missile launchers, then hurries to the airfield. C. Thomas and Tree land at the same time Far Out Man arrives in his truck, but security personnel mistake the “armed” hippie for a terrorist and chase him. A woman suggests to C. Thomas that he leave the airport at once to escape, but as he and Tree leave in his sports car, it breaks down. Meanwhile, police find Far Out Man passed out in a tow truck, and tell him to start towing cars. As he leaves the airport in the tow truck, he sees Tree alongside the highway. He offers assistance, and the two instantly recognize each other and embrace. Thinking C. Thomas is his son, Far Out Man tries to hug him, too, but C. Thomas mistakes him for a rabid fan. Far Out Man agrees to push C. Thomas’ car, but it goes out of control on a hill and cannot stop because the brakes are gone. When C. Thomas finally wrestles the car to a halt and celebrates by smoking a marijuana cigarette, he is arrested by a highway patrolman. In the tow truck, Far Out Man and Tree argue about who left whom, and he explains that since he never knew her last name, he was unable to find her. They stop at a police station, where she reports Kyle missing and shows police his photograph. Far Out Man recognizes the picture, and tells her that Kyle will be at a Fartz concert that night. Hurrying to the show, they arrive as Kyle again accidentally knocks over the same biker’s motorcycle and has to flee for his life. Far Out Man and Tree intervene, but when the biker hits his mother in the head, Kyle goes crazy and beats him. Tree explains to Far Out Man that she is an actress now, not a hippie, and is going to Italy to do a film with C. Thomas on the following day. Meanwhile, at a police station where he is being held, C. Thomas gets a telephone call from his agent, telling him that the Italian producer of his film decided to replace him with Judd Nelson. Elsewhere, Far Out Man drives to Rae Dawn’s film set and destroys another take. As he cries over losing Tree again, his daughter insists that he stop being “too nice, too Sixties,” and aggressively win Tree back from C. Thomas. Meanwhile, at C. Thomas’s house, Judd Nelson shows up to ask him to move his car, which is blocking the street. Nelson fails to recognize his fellow actor, despite C. Thomas’s recitation of all the films he has starred in. C. Thomas’ Latina maid becomes excited because she thinks Nelson is Charlie Sheen. When Judd Nelson sees Tree, he is excited because he recently saw her in the video Garage Sale Bimbos and wants her for a part in his upcoming film in the Bahamas. At that moment, Kyle arrives to tell Tree that Far Out Man has been hospitalized. They hurry to the hospital, but find that he is only being examined. Far Out Man agrees to let Tree rejoin his band as lead singer, and they resume their romantic relationship. Kyle joins the band as the bass player.