After being decommissioned from the US Air Force with decorated service in Vietnam, Carrol Jo Hummer - CJ - of Tucson, Arizona returns to civilian life by marrying his girlfriend Jerri Kane, and getting a bank loan to purchase a big rig to follow in his now deceased father Sam Hummer's footsteps to earn a living as an independent trucker. Although she supports her husband, Jerri is uncertain about trucking as a long term career as she doesn't want CJ constantly on the road, especially when they start a family, which they both hope will be sooner than later, but which they both realize won't be until they are firmly on their feet, meaning paying off the loan. CJ hopes to get work through Sam's old trucking friends, namely Duane Haller, now the Assistant Manager at Red River, a shipping broker, and Pops Dinwiddie, one of Duane's regular independent truckers. CJ learns that he is expected to transport illegal goods as part of regular work, and if he doesn't comply, he will be blackballed, meaning no work at all. If CJ is able to get any trucking work at all after being blackballed, those behind the corruption will do whatever they can to ensure the goods don't make it to their destination in what is usually a payment on delivery business. Although Duane, a supposed friend, is only the initial face of that corruption, it goes far and deep and reaches into some high places. In their battle, CJ becomes the voice for the independent truckers. But as that battle escalates, it gets increasingly violent which places the lives of Jerri, CJ, and anyone who supports him in danger.—Huggo