Otto, an aimless teen-ager (Emilio Estevez), takes a job with a car repossession agency, run by the eccentric (nay, certifiably insane) Bud (Harry Dean Stanton). The episodic plot veers into Kiss Me Deadly territory when a guilt-ridden nuclear scientist (Fox Harris) places "something green and glowing" in the trunk of his '64 Malibu. Depending on who's around at the time, the mystery device metamorphoses from a doomsday weapon to the body of a dead extraterrestrial. Seeking the $20,000 reward posted for the return of the device, Otto endeavors to tow the Malibu away.