AllMovie

A New Yorker en route to San Francisco gets stranded in Wisconsin during the summer of 1967, and senses an opportunity to turn a big profit by catering to the growing demand for margarine in a small town built on butter. Fed up with life on the East Coast, Howard Schmear (Ron G) packs up his VW van, and starts driving west. But when Howard crashes his bus while passing through the quaint little town of Butterworth, Wisconsin, kindly farmer Melvin (Michael Spellman) attempts to make up for causing the accident by offering the weary traveler a job until the local mechanic can fix his vehicle. A town that relies on the local dairy industry in order to survive, Butterworth has outlawed margarine despite the new condiment's growing popularity. In no time, Marvin is making a mint by catering to the townspeople who seek a healthy alternative to butter. Meanwhile, the local Dairy Council suspects that something is amiss, and a special task force is assembled to prevent any margarine from being smuggled into town. As an inquisitive reporter (Ellen Muth) attempts to get to the bottom of the explosive margarine mystery, Melvin realizes that failure to get out of town fast could find him churning in a local jail cell. Robert Loggia, Dee Wallace, and Doris Roberts co-star.