It's the 1980s in a nightmarish alternate-world America. U.S. society has fallen apart under food shortages, fuel shortages, racial unrest and a host of other problems.

A visionary group of people intends to escape to another planet and start a whole new world. But first they must make it safely across the country—stealing gas and fighting off bandits along the way—if they hope to reach the starship before it departs forever.