Paper Moon (film) - Plot

Plot

The story follows con man Moze Pray (Ryan O'Neal) and young Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal), an orphan, beginning at Addie's mother's burial. Because Moze is one of many men who had a relationship with her mother (and because the girl "has his jaw"), there is speculation that he is Addie's father, which he denies. Moze is reluctantly persuaded to deliver Addie to her aunt's home.

With Addie in tow, Moze stops at a local grain mill and convinces the brother of the man who drove his car into a tree, killing Addie's mother, into giving him two hundred dollars for the now-orphaned Addie. Addie overhears this conversation and later demands the money. Because he spent nearly half of the money on car repairs, Moze agrees to travel with Addie until he has raised two hundred dollars to give to her. Addie soon learns how Moze makes his money: he visits recently widowed women, pretending he is a Bible salesman who recently sold an expensive, personalized Bible to the deceased husband. The widows usually overpay him for the books inscribed with their names. Addie joins in the scam, pretending she is his daughter, and exhibits a talent for larceny. As time passes, Moze and Addie become a formidable team and seem to forget about Addie joining her aunt.

One night, Moze and Addie stop at a local carnival, where Addie visits a photo booth and has her photograph taken sitting on a crescent moon and Moze becomes enthralled with an "exotic dancer" named Miss Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn), who is accompanied by her downtrodden, 15-year-old African American maid, Imogene (P.J. Johnson). Although Addie becomes friends with Imogene, she becomes jealous of how Moze begins to focus more and more of his attention on the gold-digging Miss Trixie. When Addie subsequently discovers that Moze has spent all of their money on a new car to impress Miss Trixie, she quickly devises a plan to get rid of her, which includes giving Imogene enough money to get back home to her mother. An elaborate series of maneuvers on Addie's and Imogene's part results in Moze catching Miss Trixie in bed with another man. Devastated, Moze leaves Miss Trixie and Imogene behind.

At a hotel, Moze is able to find a bootlegger's store of whiskey, steals some of it, and sells it back to the bootlegger. Unfortunately, the bootlegger's brother is the sheriff, who quickly arrests Moze and Addie. Addie hides their money, steals back the key to their car, and the pair escape, trading their car for a farm truck after Moze beats Leroy (Randy Quaid) in a 'wrasslin' match. The pair then makes their way across the state line to Missouri, where the Kansas law can't follow them. The sheriff finds them in Missouri, and unable to arrest Moze, he and his cohorts chase, beat and rob him. Humiliated, Moze drops Addie at her aunt's house.

Back on the road, Moze stops to let his overheating truck cool down. He discovers the photo of Addie, sitting in a quarter moon, that she left for him on the passenger seat. As he contemplates the photo, he glances into the rear-view mirror and sees a small figure running toward the stopped truck. It is Addie; she has fled her aunt's house and hopes to rejoin Moze. Angry, Moze tells Addie that he does not want her traveling with him anymore. She matter-of-factly reminds him that he still owes her two hundred dollars, and they drive off together.