Terminally ill Leah Schroth is en route to an institution where she plans to admit her intellectually disabled son Ricky when their car breaks down near the motel, and the two stay there while waiting for the vehicle to be repaired.

The soundtrack includes "One Big Love" by Patty Griffin, "Last Train to Clarksville" by The Monkees, "Mas Que Nada" by Sérgio Mendez and Brazil '66, "Iko Iko" by The Dixie Cups, "Soul Sauce" by Cal Tjader, "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells, "El Lobo" by Herb Alpert, "Samba Pa Ti" by Carlos Santana, and "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf.

"[5] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle called it a "cloying, superficial story [that] ends up forced and predictable ... Bacon's portrayal of Ricky, who is disabled by a nerve disease that contorts his body and face, ranges from adequate to almost touching.

"[6] In the San Francisco Examiner, Walter Addiego described it as "an uneasy mixture of afterschool special and art-house project" and "well-intentioned but ultimately sentimental" and added, "It nonetheless offers some good performances and nice, low-key observations about the predicament of outsiders ...

He briefly remarked that the actress Cathy Moriarty "gets little to do before exiting the pic, providing scant basis for Harriet's pre-existing domestic unrest, while Seldes' tired, anxious looks can't fill out a similarly underwritten role."

He can't salvage the more poorly conceived scenes … and, despite good production design, the period flavor is too often evoked by leaning on a predictable soundtrack of '60s hits.