Harley is a 'troubled teen' from L.A. who is arrested. A progressive social worker has Harley sent to Texas to live with the Nortons, an open-minded, heartful Christian family, and spend two months on their ranch. Surrounded by a town full of doddering hicks, Harley takes on ranch chores, learns to ride horses, and finds love in a local girl while the Nortons try to bring him into the fold. Eventually Harley chooses to release his pain in exchange for a return to faith, culminating in his calling for God's help to save the life of the burglar who framed him.

The gory ax-murder of one mousy, suburban Texas housewife by another is nearly as shocking as the excuse offered by the bespectacled defendant's attorney: self-defense.

An aging motor-cross racer, already having lost his wife and daughter to his footlooseness and now about to have his semi-tractor cab repossessed, vows to make one last go of it on his bike in the race of his career.