William Popper (Michael Sarrazin) is a wealthy, shiftless college student at Columbia who, one night in a rainstorm, accidentally kills a jaywalker with his car. Sentenced to a year in prison for manslaughter, William begins serving his term, but before it's finished he decides to break out. With the help of his faithful and politically radical girlfriend, Jane (Barbara Hershey), he skips town and escapes to Canada, where the two are obliged to live like fugitives.