Richard Pryor stars in this wild, wacky and warmhearted road movie with a difference. When budget cuts close a children's home in Philadelphia, Vivian Perry (Emmy Award winner Cicely Tyson) decides to help eight special-education students by taking them to her aunt's farm outside Seattle. In desperate need of a driver/mechanic for the bus, she teams up with Joe Braxton (Pryor), an equally desperate ex-con who hates women and children.

Fueled by Roberta Flack's songs, the action is fast and funny as this delightfully mismatched group battles the bus, the law, the Ku Klux Klan and even each other on their way west. But it all ends happily for the kids, the con and the straight-laced lady.

Foulmouthed Joe (Richard Pryor) breaks his parole, but is given a chance to prove his worth by a schoolteacher (Cicely Tyson). She hires him to drive a bus full of Special School kids from Philadelphia, but Joe is a bit unnerved by their various mental problems. Soon, however, the bonds of friendship are formed and Joe wins the respect of the kids and their teacher.