After his little brother, Jimmy (Luke Edwards), a boy who is always with his lunchbox, is put into a mental institution, Corey (Fred Savage) breaks him out and the pair run off together to California. On their way, Corey meets a girl named Haley (Jenny Lewis) and discovers that Jimmy is a genius at playing video games. With talents like this, he could easily win the top prize of $50,000 at Video Armageddon. While the three travellers are going (hitch-hiking) to the competition, the boys' parents hire a bounty hunter to track them down.