A group of people from different backgrounds have one thing in common: when they hear the world "gumball" whispered by one of the others, they know that it's time for the Gumball Rally: a no-holds barred, secret, winner-take-all rally across the USA.
During the Korean War, Italian nurse Virna Lisi falls in love with two American fliers, Tony Curtis and George C. Scott. Lisi marries Curtis after he convinces her that Scott has been killed in a plane crash. She soon discovers Scott is alive, but remains happily married to Curtis until Scott re-enters their lives 14 years later.
Maria San Carlos, the only daughter of a wealthy landowner, is betrothed to Escobar, a General in the Mexican Revolution, but she does not love him. Escobar sends a mixed gang of Americans and Mexicans to capture her and bring her to him. Complications ensue when an American cowboy, who had been hitching a ride with Maria's entourage and has his gold stolen by the gang, pursues them across the desert.
