After graduating high school, winning a bike, and becoming a great racer winning all the local trophy races, Stoller begins to ponder life as a professional biker. Stoller's biking heroes are the Italian racing team Cinzano. With a sudden zeal for Italian culture Stoller begins to learn Italian, listening to Operas, and even shaving his legs to minimize his "downwards resistance", all the while driving his father crazy. While pretending to be an Italian foreign exchange student he meets the girls of his dreams and invites her in on the journey as he and his gang of "Cutters" from Indiana University take on the local fraternities in the yearly bike race.

The cast includes: Dennis Quaid, Dennis Christopher, Daniel Stern, Barabara Barrie, Paul Dooley, Jackie Earle Haley, Robyn Douglass, and Hart Bochner.

BREAKING AWAY was nominated for the Best Picture award.

Directed by: Peter Yates.