Plot:
Gratuitous Jerry Reed singing begins the movie.
JD is playing poker as Will reads an encyclopedia. JD discovers one of the other poker player’s was cheating. A fight breaks out that eventually Will keeps reading for a while before joining in. They learn the cheater was the county sheriff. Will and JD aren’t able to the cheaters.
Leaving the gas station, Will has an idea. Suddenly the inside of the gas station gains a southern exposure when Will and JD use a tow truck to pull the front of the building away. Sheriff and his cronies are in hot pursuit…(huh-cooo-cooo-cooo, sorry Dukes of Hazzard reference must be acknowledged).
The chase is on, the good old boys get ahead of a train. The sheriff finds the empty tow-truck.
Will and JD are on a boxcar wand unaware of where they’re heading. They discover the next morning, they’re in Nashville. JD tries calling an acquaintance: Lonny Grimes. The guy is so friendly he lets them stay in his apartment and drive his car while he’s out of town.
A mysterious white guy is following them.
JD and Will get to the apartment and tour the place: montage of Jerry Reed and Tom Selleck in a hot tub when the frumpy Kate Harper walks in. She wants them to find her sister, Karla. She got word that her sister was killed but can’t find any word about it. Kate needs a private detective and will pay them $1,000. That much money has convinced Jerry Reed to private eye.
Elsewhere, Will is goofing off when he finds a secret video camera hidden in the bedroom.
White guy tampers with Lonny’s Vette, the one Will and JD are to drive around. They go to the Country Music Wax Museum to find out about Karla who worked there. In the museum, they meet Roy Acuff. They talk with the manager and his wife about Karla and discover that the couple has different views of Karla. The wife thinks she was a gold-digging strumpet and even fired her, too.
Driving round the city, suddenly, the white guy follows them and opens fire on them. They crash into a police station. Lt. Claude Akins doesn’t like them but Will’s knowledge of the law allows them to get off the hook.
That night, they head to the club where Karla won a talent contest. Well, excellent Ray Steven performance ensues well the shortened version of the “Shriner’s Convention”. Will and JD discuss the case that maybe Karla has been killed. They meet Ray Stevens and Barbara Mandrell who knew Karla. The Wax manager got into a fight with Karla who was coming onto some gambler, Joe Hatcheck.
They head to a floating crap game and talk with Hatcheck. The white guy is still following them. From Hatcheck, they learn that Karla was only using him as much as she could. A fight breaks out.
Lt. Claude Akins shows up to bust everyone who scrambles. The cops get Will and JD. Hatcheck hops into the Vette that promptly explodes.
In jail, Lieutenant Blocker is irate that he can’t bust JD and Will.
The illustrious cowboys go to the apartment and find it has been ransacked. They decide to visit Kate. At her hotel, they sneak in her room. The guy in the white suit, who has been following them, chases them, which leads to a JERRY REED musical chase montage.
JD is sure that Woody Strode, the famous singer, knows Karla and has a plan to see him. Will is sure this a bad idea. At a car dealer, JD pulls the old ”my extremely wealthy boss wants to test the car over the weekend” bit. Will is more surprised that it actually works.
They drive to Woody Strode’s mansion and basically bluff their way in. Woody denies knowing Karla until they prove he wrote a song for her. Woody took her around Nashville. Flashback, Karla was trying to force Woody to make the record company give her a deal. She gets sick of him and storms off. Apparently, Karla decided to work hard for her money at the not quite the House of the Rising Sun but the Nashville equivalent.
After they leave, Woody sends his goon to follow them to lead them to the “right” guys.
JR doubts all the bad things about Karla. They go the Peg’s place, a mansion which is the high dollar home of grinding and bumping. The old and heavyset madam, Peg, warns them about Karla’s crazy boyfriend. Flashback, Karla is trying to get rid of her obsessive boyfriend. JR hits on the Mae Young wannabee, while Will finds the phone number for Karla. They leave and try to number and learn it is Lonny Grime’s number. The world is just getting smaller and smaller.
Will is sure that Lonny is around and will think they have been spending his money that was in the package. Lonny shows up and has set them up. He reveals that Karla was a working girl to fiancé her record. Flashback, Lonny goes to her apartment and sees Woody shoot her. Though he didn’t call the cops, Woody decided that Lonny was a liability and hired a killer to get rid of Lonny who got out of Dodge. They get a phone call from Kate whop wants to meet them where she knows Karla’s body is.
At a graveyard, Will and JR in the TOO DARK TO SEE SCENE, Lonny pulls a gun on them. Chase ensues; Lonny gets sick of it and leaves. Kate took care of Woody’s hired gun. She wants to take care of good ole JR and Will. They get the drop on her and learn that Kate is actually Karla?
Will, JR, and Karla go back to the apartment. The big explanation of what has been going on finally takes place. She wanted to make a new start. Lonny’s idea was for her to fake her death and blackmail Woody who hired a killer to get Lonny when Will and JR arrived. Karla decided to fake being her own sister to get them to help.
Will reveals he didn’t give Lonny’s package to Lonny. Unknown to our private eyes, Karla gets a hold of another gun. Will hid a quarter of a million dollars in his boots. He wants to tie up all the loose ends. Some phone calls top Woody, Lonny, and secret call and the group is on their way.
At the meet, Woody gets an envelope when Lonny arrives to grab the money. They each reveal what they did, the blackmail and attempted murder. Karla whips out her gun. Woody and Lonny struggle. Karla admits to killing a man. Lieutenant Blocker arrives to arrest them.
JR wants to move on. The car has to be returned first. They drive it up to railroad station and leave it and hitch a ride on the boxcar headed west.
