It depicts an Iranian family driving to the Turkish border to smuggle their young adult son out of the country.

The mother sings to a 1950s song by Delkash in the beginning, the mother and father sing to "Soghati," a song by Hayedeh after a tense conversation with their older son, the young boy dances to Shahram Shabpareh's "Deyar" near the end of the film, and the family buries their dog to "Shad Zadeh" by Ebi, like a music video.

Operating under the Iranian censorship rules, Panahi breaks two of them, both regarding the mother character, played by Pantea Panahiha.

The other broken rule, one for the whole Iranian state, is that women cannot sing in the presence of men,[6] which the mother character does during one of the songs from the soundtrack.

[17] Wendy Ide of Screen International wrote, "Thrillingly inventive, satisfyingly textured and infused with warmth and humanity, this is a triumph.

"[18] Jessica Kiang of Variety wrote, "its 93 minutes whip by so airily, it's possible not to realize how much you've learned to love the family whose road trip you've shared in, until the credits roll and you immediately start to miss them.

[20] Roxana Hadadi of New York wrote, "There is a sparseness to Hit the Road that reveals the intuitiveness of Panahi's filmmaking, his grasp of these characters and how they tug and poke at each other, and his understanding of the ways fear, paranoia, and loss turn us into people we might not like, let alone recognize.