SYNOPSIS:

The story is told by Halada to Dragenfeld, a San Diego detective, recounting the misadventures had by all who were playing: The Mortality Game. Halada, Schubert and Tugger are all patients at the same hospital in Ames, Iowa. Nineteen-year old Halada has a benign, but fast growing tumor in his brain that causes hallucinations and memory loss. Middle-aged curmudgeon Schubert is a heart attack waiting to happen. And twelve-year old Tugger just got the news that he is out of remission from leukemia for the third time. Tugger has no desire to go through chemo again with a prognosis that is beyond grim, so he convinces the other two to go with him on a last trek across the country, all the while playing a game of Tugger's invention where they try to one up each other for points by performing more and more dangerous stunts to get as close to death as possible, but not die… Yet! The more close they come, the more the points, never admitting it's just an excuse to do dangerously “fun” things before the end. As they stumble their way through the Midwest with their eyes set for California, Schubert stops to visit his second wife and one true love, Honey, in Dallas. When sparks are rekindled between the two just when Honey's current husband Wade returns to their ranch unexpectedly, bullets fly, cattle stampede and they end up trying a dangerous stunt involving a heard of Longhorns and playing chicken with an SUV. All the while the trio are being pursued by Williams and Norman, two young doctors from their hospital, who have their own agenda for the pursuit. The trio end up in Tijuana, Mexico to get some money from Davilla, an old business associate of Schubert's. A mistaken identity fist fight, and aborted suicide attempt by Halada bring on a massive angina attack in Schubert. Davilla tries to help them get back across the border, but is arrested for trying to bribe the Tijuana Police. Desperate, the trio hijack a vintage, WWII Sherman tank on display in the town square and drive it into and over the US/Mexico border where many things revealed for all concerned.