Smokey and the Bandit sponsored a racer in Atlanta's Southern Classic and wants to celebrate in style when he wins. They find local legend Bo "Bandit" Darville at a roadeo at Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta and offer him $80,000 to pick up 400 cases of Coors from Texarkana (the closest place it could be legally sold at that time), and bring it back to Atlanta in 28 hours. Bandit takes the bet and recruits his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow to drive the truck, while Bandit drives a black Pontiac Trans Am bought on an advance from the Burdettes as a "blocker" to divert attention
Smokey and the Bandit away from the truck and its illegal cargo. They arrive in Texarkana an hour ahead of schedule, load the truck and head back toward Atlanta. Immediately upon starting the second leg of the run, Bandit is stopped by a runaway bride named Carrie who hitches a ride with him, but in so doing Bandit becomes a target of Sheriff Buford T. Justice, a career Texas lawman whose son Junior was to have been Carrie's bridegroom. Ignoring his own jurisdiction, Sheriff Justice, with dimwitted Junior in tow, pursues Bandit all the way to Georgia to get Carrie back, even as various