Two motorcyclists travel across the U.S. in search of the real America.

"Motorcycle cop John Wintergreen wants to become a detective, wear a big Stetson, smoke fancy cigars and be paid to think. So when he stumbles upon a dead body, he takes on the case-and proves his stuff. But as soon as he's promoted, the corruption he must tolerate makes the Stetson not fit so well and the cigars not taste so good. Forced to confront his own disillusionment, John heads out on his bike, the Electra Glide, where he makes another shocking...

Dennie has returned from a year among the hippies to her superficial, image-conscious suburban family. She must face their disapproval of her actions as they refuse to even try to understand. She must also deal with an ex-lover and a beloved young sister who is following in her footsteps, wanting the idealistic hippie life but making some rash decisions in the process.

Bill, a wealthy businessman, confronts his junkie daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend and in the ensuing argument kills him. Panic-stricken, he wanders the streets and eventually stops at a bar. There he runs into a drunken factory worker named Joe, who hates hippies, blacks, and anyone who is "different", and would like to kill one himself. The two start talking, and Bill reveals his secret to Joe.

An account of how an average "Joe" becomes a murderer. A friendship grows between a wealthy executive and a blue-collar welder due to their common fear and frustration with the "liberals" and "hippies" who are ruining the country.

When Emma, sixteen-year-old daughter of an ex-girlfriend, goes missing in a sea of hippies, Hodiak agrees to find her and teams up with the young, idealistic undercover vice cop Brian Shafe. Shafe behaves like a hippie to infiltrate the new counterculture and in doing so, realizes Karn has joined a small but growing band of drifters led by career criminal and cult leader Charles Manson.