After traveling salesman Tom Phillips (Dana Andrews) injures his spine in a car accident, he can no longer endure the rigors of the road. He decides to move his family from Boston to a desert town in California, where he anticipates a much quieter life managing a small motel. When he arrives, however, he's shocked to find the town overrun with spoiled, marauding teenagers. Under the leadership of the cocksure Duke (Paul Bertoya), they try to run Tom out of town "just for kicks."