Alice’s Restaurant

In 1965, Arlo Guthrie enrolls in a Montana college in a bid to dodge the Vietnam draft. His long hair and unorthodox study draw the ire of locals and police, creating friction that pushes him to quit. He then hitchhikes back toward the East to continue his life as a musician.

Arlo travels to New York City to visit his ailing father Woody Guthrie in a hospital. After the visit, he begins performing music at various local venues around the city. The trip marks a bridge between his family heritage and his evolving bohemian career.

Arlo returns to his friends Ray and Alice Brock at their deconsecrated church in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where they welcome bohemian types to crash. The space becomes a center for their free-spirited circle as Arlo builds his life there. He also begins a romantic connection with Mari-chan, an Asian girl who becomes part of the circle.

Alice begins setting up a restaurant in nearby Stockbridge. Arlo composes a catchy jingle for the business, which is broadcast on a local radio station and brings in the first wave of customers. The jingle helps anchor the community's growing bohemian enterprise.

Alice begins an affair with Shelly, an ex-heroin addict in a motorcycle club, and leaves for New York to visit Arlo and Roger. Ray, frustrated with his own laid-back approach, schedules a Thanksgiving gathering with a few friends. The social tension sets the stage for a tumultuous holiday.

Arlo and Roger decide to haul months’ worth of garbage from Alice and Ray’s house to the town dump. They load a red VW microbus with trash and tools, drive to the dump, find it closed for the holiday, and end up adding their own refuse to an existing pile. The act of littering seeds a chain of consequences they will soon face.

The next morning, Officer Obie calls about the littering charge. After admitting to the crime, they go to the police station where forensic evidence becomes a media spectacle. Alice bails them out, and the blind judge imposes a $25 fine and orders them to clean up the garbage, effectively letting them go.

They haul the garbage to New York and place it on a barge as a provocative gesture. The act transforms their personal misadventure into a public statement against consumer excess and the Vietnam-era draft culture. The garbage voyage intersects with Arlo's life in the church community.

Arlo is called for a draft physical at the Whitehall Street induction center. He acts homicidal to a psychiatrist, an act that earns him praise but triggers suspicion. Because of his littering conviction, officials deem him unfit for service and place his records on the Group W bench, sending the file to Washington, DC.

Back at the church, Ray and the motorcycle club gather to view home movies from a recent race. Shelly reveals a heroin stash hidden in a customized vehicle and dies after riding off on his motorcycle. Joni Mitchell's 'Songs to Aging Children Come' is sung at Shelly's funeral.

The day after Shelly's death, Woody Guthrie dies. Arlo expresses regret for not visiting his father one last time. The loss underscores the passing of a legend who had inspired him and shaped his path.

Ray and Alice hold a hippie-style wedding and celebrate in the church, while Ray muses about selling the church to start a country commune. They see Arlo and Mari-chan off in Arlo's microbus, with Ray returning inside and Alice standing on the steps, gazing toward an uncertain future.