Grandview, U.S.A.

“Where dreams have a funny way of coming true.”

Grandview, Illinois is an ordinary small town, and Tim Pearson (C. Thomas Howell) is a few months from graduating and leaving it for Florida to study oceanography. He falls for Michelle "Mike" Cody (Jamie Lee Curtis), who runs the local demolition derby, where driver Ernie "Slam" Webster (Patrick Swayze) has his own eye on her. Randal Kleiser keeps the camera close to these people and lets the small-town days play out without hurry.