Homer Edwards, an eighteen-year-old high school student living in small-town Wisconsin, attempts to leave home. He waits all night on the highway trying to hitch a ride, but the sheriff brings him back to his parents' farm the next morning. His father and mother are unsympathetic with his anti-establishment attitudes, and only want Homer to cut his long hair, which he finally permits his girl friend, Laurie Grainger, to trim. Homer's friend, Eddie Cochran, comes home on army leave before being sent to Vietnam and begins to date Laurie; the boys' friendship is unaffected, however, as Eddie lends Homer his motorcycle for the duration of his army hitch, and Homer's rock band plays for Eddie's farewell party at the American Legion hall. Laurie loves Homer but does not begin to understand him until they talk at her house until 3:30 in the morning while her parents are at a party. When the Graingers return home, they insist that Homer spend the night, which enables Laurie to sneak into the guest room and make love with him for the first time. After Homer wrecks the family car and his father angrily puts him to work on their farm, the two are able to establish temporary communication when Mr. Edwards repairs the motorcycle and Homer rides it through the fields. Their newfound rapport lasts only until Eddie's coffin comes back from Vietnam; Homer then pickets the Veterans of Foreign Wars, sings protest songs, and finally chains himself to a post in front of the VFW hall. His humiliated father publicly slaps Homer's face and destroys the youth's record player and all his records. That night, Homer hitches a ride out of town with some hippies, and his father makes no attempt to stop him.