- A ten year-old boy runs away from his abusive parents, steals a Mustang, and a pursues a promotional card game sold at gas stations.
- A ten year old boy gets tired of life with abusive parents and cashes in his piggy bank and steals a Mustang. He rides off into a surreal America playing "Motorama," a game sponsored by Chimera Gas Company. He has various encounters with different people, and eventually reaches the Chimera Gas Company where he finds they are not playing by the rules of the game.—Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>
- To escape his fighting parents, ten-year-old Gus (Jordan Christopher Michael) breaks open his piggy bank, steals his father's vintage Mustang, and runs away from home. When he stops at a roadside bar and orders black coffee, no one finds it odd that such a young boy is driving.
Gus continues on and sees a billboard advertising the "Motorama" sweepstakes being conducted by Chimera gas stations throughout the country. Stopping at a gas station, Gus asks the attendant, Phil (John Deihl), for the "Motorama cards" he has earned for making a purchase, but Phil cannot find them. When Jerry (Robert Picardo), a local police officer, comes into the station, Gus hides in a back room and finds a box full of Motorama cards on a shelf. He takes the cards, and is seen by Officer Jerry, who asks about the Mustang. Gus claims it belongs to his father, who is in the restroom. After Jerry leaves, Phil asks the boy why he lied, and Gus admits he is underage and driving without a license.
Sometime later, Gus checks into a motel and reads the rules to the never-ending Motorama game. If his scratch-off cards reveal letters and he spells out "m-o-t-o-r-a-m-a," he will win $500 million. Gus unveils a letter "m" from his stack, and becomes obsessed with the game. He drives to the nearest gas station to collect more cards. Before long, Gus has three letters. A mechanic named Andy (Garrett Morris) tells him that no one plays Motorama any longer because it is impossible to win.
Sometime later, Officer Jerry finds Gus parked by the side of the road, and again asks about his father before driving on. Gus soon runs out of gas and money, and steals gasoline from another vehicle parked at a diner. When he is seen by the deranged husband and wife who own the car (Sandy Baron and Mary Woronov), he is kidnapped and beaten. Suffering from a severe eye injury, Gus insists they call a doctor. However, when the doctor (Vince Edwards) arrives, Gus does not reveal that he has been kidnapped. The doctor recommends surgery to save Gus' eye, but the couple will not allow the doctor to perform the operation. Gus is given an eye patch, and after a surreal evening spent in captivity, he escapes from his kidnappers and resumes his quest to win the Motorama game.
When Gus stops at a bar to eat, a man named Vern (Meat Loaf) challenges him to an arm wrestling match. After losing a large sum of money, Gus admits his life is devoted to playing Motorama, and asks Vern to accept a smaller sum. Vern and his sidekick, Billy (Dan Quinn), torture the boy by tattooing the four-remaining letters he needs to win the game on his arm.
Later, Gus stops at a park and challenges a man to a game of horseshoes for money. Gus beats the man and takes his winnings on the road. In time, he collects every Motorama letter except one. He arrives in "Essex," a futuristic, desolate state, and crashes his vehicle into an embankment. The boy's hair turns white upon impact.
Gus stumbles upon a dying man in a nearby automobile, who tells him that he, too, is only one letter away from winning Motorama, and has spent his life searching for that letter. After the man dies, Gus takes his vehicle and resumes his quest. When he unveils the final letter, he is ecstatic, and drives directly to the Chimera headquarters to claim his prize. However, when he arrives, he learns he did not win the $500,000 million, but is only "eligible" to win, as the fine-print states.
Feeling cheated, Gus enters the office of Miss Lawton (Robin Duke) and confronts her. She calls security, and Gus is thrown out the window of the high-rise building. The boy plummets to the ground and lands in a pool of water. Gus awakens in a time before he began pursuing Motorama cards. His hair is no longer white, but he still wears an eye patch. He decides to give up his feeble pursuit, abandons his Mustang by the side of the road, and accepts a ride from a man in a station wagon. When they stop at Phil's gas station, Gus sees a "help wanted" sign. He takes a job there as an attendant, and works peacefully alongside Phil.
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