Huey Walker (Dennis Hopper), a hippie and a former New Left radical (in the vein of Abbie Hoffman) who has been on the run from the law for 20 years for something he did not do, disconnecting Spiro Agnew's train car in Spokane, Washington. John Buckner (Kiefer Sutherland) is an Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who is set to transport Walker back to Spokane for trial.