Unlike the previous two Peanuts theatrical films, Charles M. Schulz wrote an original plot without relying on any specific storyline from the strip.

The bullies boast of their repeated victories in the annual raft race, though it is soon revealed that their success is achieved solely through deception.

Their raft is equipped with an outboard motor, radar, sonar, and a direction finder, and they employ underhanded tactics to sabotage their competitors.

Throughout the race, the children traverse a variety of landscapes, including dense forests, towering mountains, and a logging community built along a river.

Along the way, they encounter numerous challenges such as getting lost, enduring severe storms, and suffering repeated sabotage at the hands of the bullies.

Snoopy searches tirelessly for Woodstock, eventually taking refuge in an abandoned cabin for the night, where he has an unsettling encounter with a bear.

As the race nears its climax, the group appears poised for victory due to Charlie Brown’s newfound self-assurance.

However, his moment of self-assurance is abruptly undercut when the bus departs without him, forcing him to hitch an alternate ride with Snoopy and Woodstock on a motorcycle.

Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown received 3 out of 5 stars in The New York Times from Janet Maslin, who wrote: "The film runs an hour and quarter and has a rambling plot about a regatta, but it seems less like a continuous story than a series of droll blackout sketches, many of them ending with the obligatory 'Good Grief!'

The net effect is that of having read the comic strip for an unusually long spell, which can amount to either a delightful experience or a pleasant but slightly wearing one, depending upon the intensity of one's fascination with the basic Peanuts mystique.