Led by Marvin Lazar (Tony Curtis), their latest in a string of bumbling coaches, beleaguered Little Leaguers the Bad News Bears head to Japan to face off against coach Shimizu (Tomisaburô Wakayama) and a team of the best young baseball talents in the country. While a scheming Lazar tries to scare up big-time television money, the now-teenage Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) falls for Arika (Hatsune Ishihara), a Japanese teenager who doesn't speak a word of English.