A naïve monk’s Hollywood pilgrimage becomes a satirical odyssey about faith, money, and manipulation. Brother Ambrose Marty Feldman is sent by the abbot to raise $5,000 to keep their monastery from closing. His journey starts with good intentions but quickly spirals into a carnival of eccentric personalities and questionable schemes. In the city of lights and temptations, he’s first robbed and then befriended by the con artist Dr. Sebastian Peter Boyle, who poses as a benefactor while steering Ambrose toward a modern, money-fueled version of religion. A vulnerable Mary Louise Lasser offers Ambrose shelter in her apartment, and what begins as charity deepens into a complicated bond as Mary grows to care for him. Their uneasy dynamic is intensified by Ambrose’s longing, which Mary answers with warmth and a magnetic kiss that occurs while he’s attempting to calm his lustful thoughts in a cold shower.
The centerpiece of this Hollywood misadventure is the Church of Divine Profit, a flashy lure that lures people with promises of salvation bought with cash. Ambrose is drawn into a string of services hosted by Thunderbird—Armageddon T. Thunderbird Andy Kaufman—who preaches a gospel of commerce dressed in his own brand of showmanship. Thunderbird’s televised sermons hinge on money as the currency of salvation, a premise that offends Ambrose’s simple faith but also drags him deeper into the spectacle. As the two men crisscross the country aboard a modified school bus that doubles as a mobile sanctuary, they stage donation-driven revival meetings, weaving religion into a profitable roadside enterprise. The ride takes a dangerous turn when a service’s brakes fail and the bus careens into a river. The passengers escape and, to the astonishment of the local press, are baptized by the duo—an incident that catches Thunderbird’s attention and signals the moment when profit and piety become indistinguishable.
Thunderbird, driven by a mix of ambition and fear, consults G. O. D. (General Organizational Directivatator)—a potent, all-powerful computer linked to his finances and operations. Ambrose, ever the seeker of truth, is startled when Thunderbird prays and hears G. O. D.’s responses in the private chamber. This shocking moment reveals that the supposed divine voice guiding Thunderbird is, in fact, a sophisticated machine with a conscience of sorts. G. O. D. decides to test Ambrose’s integrity and, in a surprising turn, urges him to relinquish Thunderbird’s money to charity. Bags of cash cascade from Thunderbird’s office as the computer compels a moral redistribution, undermining the preacher’s hold on the crowd and threatening the whole scheme.
Things spiral into a chase across the city as Thunderbird detects interference in his control room. Ambrose snatches the monastery’s mortgage certificate and escapes, pursued through the urban maze. Mary and Dr. Melmoth search for Ambrose, and in the midst of the pursuit, a startling revelation unfolds: Melmoth is Mary’s father, a fact confirmed by a distinctive tattoo she notices on his leg. This discovery adds a layer of personal stakes to the already tangled web of loyalties, and the trio’s pursuit becomes a race to clear Ambrose’s name and secure the monastery’s future.
Back at the monastery, Ambrose returns the mortgage certificate to the abbot, affirming his commitment to the true purpose of his vow. The story moves toward a quieter, more intimate resolution: Ambrose marries Mary, who is pregnant with their child conceived during their single night together, signaling a new life emerging from the upheaval. The film closes with a final image of Melmoth’s bus rolling down the highway, presaging a future where love, faith, and ethical choices persist even after the dust settles, and the closing title promises that “they all lived happily hereafter.”
