"Cannonball Run" é uma corrida ilegal onde os participantes devem cruzar os Estados Unidos de Connecticut à Califórnia no menor tempo possível, utilizando qualquer transporte terrestre disponível e as maneiras mais criativas para fugir da polícia. A competição reúne os competidores mais excêntricos e dementes do país, provocando inúmeras confusões.
O popular herói Bandit está passando por tempos ruins, mas fica feliz quando é contratado para ajudar a transportar uma elefanta grávida a uma convenção republicana, na cidade de Dallas. As complicações surgem quando o xerife Buford T. Justice, seu inimigo, descobre sobre a empreitada e resolve estragar o retorno do herói.
After his release from prison, notorious ex-con and moonshine distiller Gator McKlusky moves in with his father in a cabin in the Okefenokee Swamp. His bootlegging plans are cut short, however, when a federal agent tells McKlusky that he will lose custody of his 9-year-old daughter unless he helps bring down local crime lord Bama McCall. McKlusky enlists the help of reporter Aggie Maybank and a few local eccentrics to bring down McCall's empire.
A woman who believes she has been chosen by God to heal people is taken in by a greedy promoter and his shrewish wife to make the rounds of the rural South - she to save souls and heal the sick, he to make as much money as he possibly can.
