College students on spring break in Palm Springs pursue romantic entanglements. Jim falls for Bunny, Biff for Amanda. Gayle poses as a student while Eric courts her. Their coach flirts with a motel owner amid her son's antics.
Several Los Angeles college students flock to Palm Springs, California for a long, fun-filled spring-break weekend. Jim finds romance with Bunny, the daughter of a harried, stressed-out Palm Springs Police Chief. Jim's bumbling roommate Biff tries to get tomboyish Amanda's attention with a so-called love gadget. Gayle Lewis, a high-school senior posing as a wealthy college girl, is pursued by wealthy, spoiled college preppie Eric Dean but has eyes for a Texas cowboy called Stretch. Jim and Biff's basketball coach, Campbell, tries to romance Naomi, the owner of the motel where they're all staying, but faces interference from Naomi's troublemaking brat son "Boom-Boom."—matt-282
It's Easter weekend, and college kids with raging hormones head to Palm Springs, California looking for fun with members of the opposite sex. Among those heading to Palm Springs this year are a college basketball team including medical student Jim Munroe and comedian Biff Roberts; Doug "Stretch" Fortune, a Hollywood stuntman originally from Texas; Eric Dean, a rich playboy neglected by his equally playboy father; Beverly Hills socialite and Hawaii college student Gayle Lewis, who is not all she appears to be; and tomboy Amanda North. It's the worst week in the year for Palm Springs Chief of Police Dixon, the official ruler of order. This year will be worse for Chief Dixon as his pretty daughter Bunny, a responsible young woman, is the same age as the town's invaders. The unofficial ruler of order is Naomi Yates, the proprietor of one of the local motels where the kids stay; she usually has enough to handle taking care of her precocious 9-year-old son "Boom-Boom." Another adult supervisor this year is Fred Campbell, the basketball coach who came along unexpectedly to keep his players out of trouble. Through the hijinks of the weekend, the kids meet, fall in love, then really get to know each other to see if they have a future past the weekend.—Huggo
Every Easter, Palm Springs, California, is invaded by youngsters seeking fun and adventure. During this last weekend of spring break, a college basketball team is seen riding on a bus from Los Angeles to Palm Springs. The team captain is a medical student named Jim Munroe (Troy Donahue) who is traveling with his best friend Biff Roberts (Jerry Van Dyke). While Biff mocks their coach over sneaking out of their dorm during the night, Coach Fred Campbell (Jack Weston) is revealed to also be on the bus and confronts the team about taking the weekend off to visit Palm Springs and wants accompany them in order to get them in shape for the year end basketball game.
Also on the bus is a pretty blond name Gail Lewis (Connie Stevens) whom Jim befriends while trying to pass the time. Despite some chemistry, between them, Gail regards Jim only as a friend. When the bus stops at a local rest stop, Gail disembarks and is approached by a certain Eric Dean (Robert Conrad), a wealthy and spoiled son and only child of a millionaire. Eric offers to drive Gail for the rest of the trip in his flashy white convertible. During the drive, Eric drives recklessly and runs another car off the road, driven by Doug 'Strech' Fortune (Ty Harden), a Hollywood stuntman from Texas. After Eric drops Gail off at her motel to check in, she angrily berates him for driving recklessly, but he brushes her off and drives away. Just then, Stretch arrives and offers to help Gail carry her bags and she becomes attracted to the rugged and handsome cowboy.
Meanwhile, at the home of Palm Springs Police Chief Dixon (Andrew Duggan) and his wife Cora (Dorothy Green), they discuss his health over dealing with the rowdy spring breakers when their teenage daughter Bunny (Stefanie Powers) arrives to have lunch with them before leaving.
After the bus breaks down, Jim, Biff, and the rest of the team race on foot the rest of the way to their motel, much to the vexation of the overweight Coach Campbell. When checking in, Coach Campbell becomes attracted to Mrs. Naomi Yates (Carole Cook), a young widow who owns and manages the motel for her late husband. Coach Campbell spends most of the rest of the movie trying to win Mrs. Yates' affections any way he can from knowledge of basketball to cooking breakfast and dinner for her.
Gail, who is staying at the same motel, learns that she cannot afford the $12-a-night rate, so Mrs. Yates gives her a part-time job to work off her debit by babysitting 24/7 for her rambunctious 10-year-old son Boom-Boom (Billy Mumy) who proves a handful for both Gail as well as Coach Campbell. Gail's roommate at the motel is Amanda North (Zeme North), a tomboy college student who soon meets and is attracted to Biff, but he does not return her affections.
While at a local record store, Jim meets Bunny Dixon working there at her part-time job as a cashier. He tries to get her phone number to ask her out on a date and, though reluctant, she agrees.
Gail has lunch with Eric at a trendy hotel restaurant where he continues to try to woo her with his lavish lifestyle that he claims is his. He also confides in her about his absent and workaholic father who is never around and is currently on his sixth honeymoon in Mexico with his much-younger wife whom Eric has never met. Gail is elusive about her home life aside that she is underage when she cannot produce any ID for ordering alcoholic drinks.
That evening, Jim takes Bunny out to a local party thrown by a student at the L.A. college where Biff, Amanda, Eric, and Gail are all in attendance. But soon the party is crashed by a group of local hoodlums, who quickly start a fight with Jim which erupts to a full-on brawl. The police soon arrive and arrest everyone. At the police station, it is here that Jim finally learns that Bunny is Chief Dixon's daughter who is distraught to see Bunny among all of the arrested college students. Eventually, everyone is released with only a warning, but Chief Dixon forbids Jim to see his daughter, thinking him to be a punk.
The next morning, Boom Boom creates more havoc at the motel when he drops some soap chemicals into the motel courtyard pool which soap bubbles engulf the entire pool area, and soon everyone is stumbling and falling into the pool.
At the Dixon household, as Chief Dixon continues dealing with reports of disturbances being reported, Bunny manages to calm him down to allow her to go out that evening with some of her friends.
Meanwhile, Gail gives Amanda a makeover to make her more attractive to the bumbling Biff, whom she tries to win his affections with a romantic dinner that she invites him to in her room. But Biff is clumsy and awkward in making the moves on her and has to keep reading from his notebook for moves to make.
That same evening, Jim, Bunny, Eric, and Gail, along with the rest of the basketball team, go out to a local nightclub to watch a mod band perform. Bunny and Jim deal with the news that Jim must return home the next day; she worries about never seeing him again and confirms her love for him. At the same time, Eric and Gail both get drunk, and Eric attempts to force himself upon Gail in his car in the parking lot. But Stretch, who is in attendance at the nightclub, hears her screams and grabs Eric off of her and beats him up, leading Gail to finally realize what a selfish creep that Eric is.
As Stretch leaves the nightclub, Eric chases after him in his car, while Jim chases after Eric. As dawn begins to break, the crazed Eric forces Stretch's car off the road and drives away, which leads Jim to stop and rescue Stretch, who is badly injured. When the police arrive at the scene, they arrest Jim after mistakenly thinking that he was the person who forced Stretch off the road. But at the police station, an officer clears the air over Jim rescuing Stretch from the hit-and-run, which makes Chief Dixon see Jim to be a sincere person and even allows him to phone Bunny.
After trying to get in contact with his absent father for help, Eric arrives at the police station to turn himself in, where he runs into Jim outside. Eric bemoans how life never seems to go well for him, but Jim angrily tells Eric to leave his personal problems out of everyone else's lives and to face the consequences of his own actions. Jim leaves while Eric enters the police station to turn himself in for attempting to kill Stretch.
At the hospital, the injured Stretch is visited by Gail, where she finally tells him the truth about herself: her real name is actually Jane Hoover, and she is an 18-year-old high school senior on vacation in Palm Springs. Stretch understands and forgives her for rejecting him for Eric. She offers to keep in touch with him when he gets released, and he agrees.
At the end, Coach Campbell has won the affections of Mrs. Yates, the homely Amanda has paired off with Biff, and Bunny is paired with Jim. As the students leave Palm Springs on the bus, Bunny promises to wait for Jim until he finishes medical school. Chief Dixon softens enough to invite the young people back next Easter. As Coach Campbell says goodbye to Mrs. Yates, the bus leaves without him and forces him to run after it to catch up with it.
