Truck driver Martin ”Rubber Duck” Penwald (Kristofferson) comes into conflict with Sheriff Lyle ”Cottonmouth” Wallace (Borgnine). Rubber Duck and his trucker friends, Pig Pen (Burt Young), Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye) and Black Widow (Madge Sinclair), get into a fight with Wallace and his deputies at a truck stop. After handcuffing Wallace to a barstool, they decide to head for the state line to avoid prosecution. Melissa (MacGraw), a photographer whose car has broken down, agrees to ride with the Rubber Duck, and the pair soon fall in love.
The truckers drive across Arizona and New Mexico, with Wallace in belated pursuit. Additional independent truckers join them to form a mile-long convoy in support of the Rubber Duck’s vendetta against the abusive Wallace. The truckers communicate with each other via CB Radio, and much of the jargon associated with the CB craze is sprinkled throughout the film. The trip touches on social empowerment issues of class, race and gender as well as the place of the law in society. As the rebellious truckers run from the police, Rubber Duck becomes a reluctant folk hero.
It becomes apparent the truckers have a great deal of political support and the Governor of New Mexico, Jerry Haskins (Seymour Cassel), meets Rubber Duck. At about the same time, Wallace and Alvarez, a brutal Texas sheriff, arrest Spider Mike, who left the convoy to be with his wife after giving birth to their son. Wallace’s plan is to trap Rubber Duck. A janitor at the jail, unaware of the plan, messages by CB radio that Spider Mike has been arrested and beaten. Various truckers relay the message to New Mexico.
Rubber Duck ends the meeting with Haskins and leaves to rescue Spider Mike. Several other truckers join him and head east to Texas.
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