Throughout his entire life, Rod Kimble has believed his father, now deceased, was both a successful and respectable stuntman working for Evel Knievel. He aspires to follow in his father's footsteps and become a famous stuntman himself. Meanwhile, his stepfather Frank fails to respect Rod as a man, often going out of his way to beat him in sparring sessions and mocking his stuntman dream. Rod makes many attempts at landing jumps with his Tomos moped, most of them ending unsuccessfully, and after an ill-fated jump attempt at the public pool, he returns home to find out that Frank is in urgent need of a heart transplant that the family's health insurance will not cover. Angered at the thought of his stepfather dying without getting a chance to gain his respect and beat him in a fight at least once, Rod tells his childhood friends Rico, Dave, and his half-brother Kevin that he plans to do a jump over the length of fifteen school buses, and give the proceeds to his stepfather's surgery. He also adds Denise, his college-graduate neighbor on whom he has a crush, to his crew.