A deuce coupe is a vintage 1930s or '40s two-door sedan, and in the 1950s these were the favored possessions of improvement-minded hot-rodders everywhere. In the '60s, the two-door 1954 and '55 Chevrolet Bel-Aire fell into the same category. These days, examples of these cars are for the most part ruinously expensive. In this nostalgia-laden movie, set in a small town in Virginia in the 1950s, Eddy, a hero-worshipping young man is helping his older brother Brian soup up his car for a long-awaited drag race. After winning the race and defeating (temporarily) the local champion, Brian goes off to enter the Air Force, leaving his precious car with Eddy. Before long, Marie Vitelli shows up on Eddy's doorstep looking for Brian. This pretty girl with a bad reputation is claiming to be pregnant with Brian's child. What's worse, she's currently going out with his drag-racing rival. Feelings of betrayal vie with rage and jealousy in the confused young man, who fancies Marie himself, and he challenges the rival to another racing duel.