While traveling to California to race The King and Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) in the Piston Cup Championship, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) falls out of his trailer and winds up in a run-down town called Radiator Springs. He slowly befriends the town's odd residents, including Sally (Bonnie Hunt), Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) and Mater. When it comes time for him to leave, the championship is no longer his top priority.