The plot follows Billie Jean Davy, a teenager from Texas, and her brother Binx, who become fugitives after a confrontation with a local bully turns violent.

Billie Jean Davy, a teenager from Corpus Christi, Texas, rides with her younger brother, Binx, on his Honda Elite scooter to a lake to go swimming.

With help from Lloyd Muldaur, the teenage son of the district attorney, who voluntarily becomes her "hostage", Billie Jean makes a video of her demands, featuring herself with her long, blonde hair chopped into a crew cut, inspired after watching a movie about Joan of Arc on TV.

Facing uncertain dangers, both physical and legal, Billie Jean is forced to turn in her friends Putter and Ophelia to the cops for their safety.

He gives Billie Jean the money, but she refuses to take it all and rams her knee into his crotch, sending him sprawling to the ground and knocking over a nearby torch.

The onlookers (including Hubie), seeing how Billie Jean was exploited and their indirect involvement in it, throw all the merchandise into the rapidly growing fire and leave in disgust.

Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel stated that the film "has quite a lot going for it" and "doesn't get many points for finesse, but it has energy, good performances and more wit than you'd expect."

He added, "One reason that sections of the movie are effective is that Helen Slater has enough style and presence to be believable as a young woman who is taken for a modern Joan of Arc.

In 2009, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released in Europe a Spanish-titled DVD La Leyenda de Billie Jean, with 4:3 open matte image, but without any bonus material.

A remastered NTSC DVD including commentary by Helen Slater and Yeardley Smith was released on November 1, 2011, via their manufactured on demand service.