When Harkin Banks (Patrick Houser) stops for gas in a remote town, he sees a young woman named Sunny (Tracy Smith) get tossed out of the vehicle in which she has been hitchhiking on her way to San Francisco, California. He offers her a ride and tells her he will be skiing the world freestyle skiing championship in Squaw Valley, California. They stop at a motel for the night and with only one bed in the room, Sunny tells Harkin to "pick a side and stay there."Back on the road the next morning, Sunny asks why Harkin didn't try to seduce her, and asks if he is a virgin. He is non-committal and then asks her the same question. Sunny does not answer directly, but tells Harkin that he missed his chance. She lets it be known that she does not have to be in San Francisco right away, and asks if she can come along to Squaw Valley.That night, they arrive at the Fantasy Motel and ring the desk bell, interrupting the female desk clerk (Crystal Smith) who is in an indoor hot tub in the back room with a male companion. The clerk comes to the lobby fully naked, with only a towel wrapped around her hair. Sunny drags Harkin to their room in order to take his eyes off the naked woman. The room lives up to the motel's name with a heart-shaped Jacuzzi tub, waterbed, and pornographic films on the television.When they go to a restaurant for dinner, Sunny and Harkin spot Austrian skier Rudolph "Rudi" Garmisch (John Patrick Reger), the current world champion freestyle skier. When Harkin attempts to introduce himself, Rudi rudely ignores him, and Sunny calls Rudi a "Nazi bastard." Dan O'Callahan (David Naughton), another skier, defuses the situation and joins Harkin and Sunny at their table. However, Dan is little friendlier than Rudi, suggesting that Harkin may not be good enough to qualify and making a less-than-subtle play for Sunny's attention. Leaving the restaurant, Sunny and Harkin go to the Lone Star Saloon for an after-dinner beer; while there, they witness a wet T-shirt contest and dance to the house rock band. Back in their hotel room, Sunny tells Harkin that he is not going to fall asleep on her two nights in a row, and they make love for the first time.After making his qualifying run in the morning, Harkin agrees to spend the afternoon skiing with Dan, Kendo Yamamoto (James Saito), Squirrel Murphy (Frank Koppala), and several other "Rat Pack" skiers. Arriving at the top of the hill for their first downhill run, the group meets Sylvia Fonda (Shannon Tweed), who asks Dan to introduce her to Harkin. She mentions the big party she is throwing that evening, and asks Dan to bring Harkin. Dan says that Harkin has a girlfriend, and Sylvia suggests that Sunny should come, too. As Sylvia skis off, Rudi and his "Rudettes" barge in front of the Rat Pack and the champion demands that Dan and Harkin leave the middle path down the mountain to him, so Dan insults him. Rudi is annoyed, but vows to get his revenge later. Dan informs Harkin that Sylvia used to be Rudi's girlfriend.While having a beer at the ski lodge, Harkin, Dan and the rest of the Rat Pack is eager to discover who made the cut when the qualifying results are posted. Harkin qualifies, as do all in the group, except Fergy (Erik Watson) and Dogger. Although the two had better runs than some of the European competition, when Dan goes to plead for his friends, the promoters claim that some Europeans had to be in the competition to accommodate the event's fourteen European sponsors.That night, while driving to Sylvia's party, Sunny pops a pill. Harkin makes it clear that he does not approve, but Sunny shoots back that spending one night together does not mean that Harkin now owns her. At their arrival, Sunny and Sylvia share a catty exchange, before Sunny wanders off and Sylvia promises Harkin a personal "private tour." Later, Harkin notices Sunny is with another young man, but, as the party continues, Sylvia finds Harkin and takes him upstairs where they make love. After having too much to drink, Sunny wanders the house looking for Harkin and discovers him in an embrace with Sylvia. She finds the sauna and goes inside, where Rudi and his friends are sweating out their own over-indulgence in alcohol. Recognizing Sunny, Rudi apologizes for his prior rudeness and she reluctantly allows Rudi to seduce her.The next morning as the skiers prepare to make their first day ballet runs, Rudi tells Harkin that he made love to Sunny. One of the Rat Pack informs Rudi that while he was with Sunny, Harkin was with Sylvia. The disgruntled Rudi challenges his rivals to a broom-ball match at the arena that evening. At the conclusion of the ballet ski run, Rudi receives scores in the low 9s from the judges; while Harkin's scores are only in the high 8s even though his friends think he made a better run. The Rat Pack begins to suspect that the events are rigged to favor the European skiers.Back at their hotel room, Sunny packs to leave for San Francisco as she and Harkin argue over their separate romantic adventures the night before. Harkin tries to persuade Sunny to stay, but she walks out.That evening, before the broom-ball match, Rudi and his Rudettes do warm up exercises, while the American team smoke marijuana. The Americans ultimately lose, but afterward, Dan and Harkin break into the Austrian team equipment room and loosen the bindings on the Austrians' skis. The next morning, during trial runs for the moguls, the Austrians' feet become detached from their skis.Meanwhile, Sunny, who has shown no previous interest in skiing, tries to learn the sport. When Sunny falls on the slope, Sylvia skis up to her and attempts to help, but Sunny turns the offer down, clearly making no effort to hide her contempt of her.As the mogul competition gets underway, Rudi is in first place, while Harkin and Dan rank fifth and sixth overall. In their mogul runs, Rudi scores in the high 9s, but Harkin's scores from the five judges range from 7.0 to 8.3 with only one judge giving him a 9. The attending crowd becomes angry over the slight to what they believe was Harkin's superior performance. Sunny shows up in the crowd the final day to watch the competition.In the aerial event, Rudi comes in with a near-perfect score approaching a 10.0 for his well-executed triple summersault jump, and a total cumulative score for the three days of 39.4. Harkin tells the starter that he intends to perform a jump of his own devising that he describes as a "twist and triple" to the skeptical starter. Harkin executes the spectacular jump flawlessly, but still does not score as well as Rudi, who wins the world championship for the third year in a row. The angry crowd boos and throws snowballs at the bias judges, and Sunny asks Rudi how it feels to win and still be second best.At an after-competition beer-drinking celebration, Sylvia makes up to Rudi, but from the club rooftop the Americans pelt the celebrants with a hail of snowballs. The Americans then challenge Rudi and his team to a "winner-take-all" bet at $40 a man on a "Chinese downhill" ski run. Dan also persuades Rudi to bring his trophy and make it part of the bet. Crash helmets, chest and body pads and spiked ski poles are part of the equipment for the Chinese downhill. An announcer calls out the rules. There are none; and whomever crosses the finish line first and grabs the trophy wins and collects the cash prize of $2,300.Crashes and take-downs ensue as skier after skier is eliminated from the competition. Rudi knocks Harkin off course, but the young American rights himself, flies through an open door at the ski lodge and crashes through a picture window and back onto the course. At the finish line, it is Harkin and Rudi, but Harkin grabs the trophy and Sunny is there to kiss him. The Americans proceed to celebrate their victory.