Harry Coombes (Art Carney) is an elderly widower who is forced from his Upper West Side apartment in New York City when his building is condemned. He initially stays with his son's family in the suburbs but eventually chooses to travel cross country with his pet cat "Tonto" in tow. Initially planning to fly to Chicago, he instead boards a long-distance bus, then later impulsively buys a used car to continue the journey. During his episodic journey, he befriends a Bible-quoting hitchhiker (Michael Butler), travels with underage runaway Ginger (Melanie Mayron), visits his daughter (Ellen Burstyn), a bookstore owner in Chicago, and drops in on an early sweetheart in a retirement home who suffers from dementia. Later he accepts a ride with a health-food salesman, spends a night in jail with a friendly Native Indian chief, and finally meets his youngest son (Larry Hagman) in Los Angeles, where he tutors children and is invited to room with a friendly widow.