Revealed shortly into the movie, Andrew Morenski (Cryer) and two others, all stockbrokers, have managed to pass bogus bonds for a mobster awaiting trial. After an evening out at a bar, one of the stockbrokers is killed in his home. The next morning, the FBI take the other two into protective custody. After convincing his FBI hosts that he wants breakfast and out of the safe house, Andrew and his FBI bodyguards are followed by hitmen hired to eliminate them. One of the FBI bodyguards is killed in a diner, the other injured, and Andrew flees the scene. While running from the hitmen, he manages to board a train and temporarily escapes. Andrew eludes the killer and hitchhikes with a truck driver to Topsail Bay, Delaware, where he phones his Aunt Lucy, who tells him to meet her at the high school where she works. Andrew cuts off his beard and dyes the sides of his hair blonde to give himself a punk look. He trades his $500 Italian sports coat for a black pea coat from a bum to complete the look. When he goes to Topsail High School to meet his Aunt Lucy, the office personnel mistake him for a new student and send him to register for classes.