The movie opens with Billie Jean Davy, a teenager in Corpus Christi, Texas, riding with her younger brother, Binx on his Honda Elite Scooter to a local lake to go swimming. At a drive-in, Hubie Pyatt, a rowdy local teen, and his friends hit on Billie Jean, but Binx humiliates him by throwing a milkshake in his face. Later on at the lake, as Billie Jean tells Binx about the weather in Vermont, a place he has always wanted to visit, Hubie steals Binx's scooter.
As Binx goes to retrieve his scooter later that night, Billie Jean goes to the authorities with her friends Putter and Ophelia. Detective Ringwald is sympathetic but urges them to wait and see how things play out. When Billie Jean returns home, she finds Binx beaten, and his scooter severely damaged. The next day, Billie Jean, Binx, and Ophelia go to Mr. Pyatt's shop to get the amount of $608 to repair the scooter. While initially appearing helpful and understanding, Pyatt propositions Billie Jean and then attempts to rape her.
Meanwhile, Binx has found a gun in the shop's cash register, and when Billie Jean flees from the back of the store, clearly distressed, he turns it on Mr. Pyatt, who tells him the gun is unloaded, but Binx fires it, wounding Pyatt in the shoulder. They race away from the shop and become fugitives....
Directed by Matthew Robbins
Written by
Lawrence Konner
Mark Rosenthal
Produced by Rob Cohen
Starring
Helen Slater
Keith Gordon
Christian Slater
Peter Coyote
Cinematography Jeffrey L. Kimball
Edited by Cynthia Scheider
Music by Craig Safan