Returning from the original
American Graffiti are Debbie Dunham, Steve Bolander, John Milner, Carol/Rainbow, Terry the Toad and Laurie Bolander (
Candy Clark,
Ron Howard,
Paul LeMat,
Mackenzie Phillips,
Charles Martin Smith and
Cindy Williams), but
Richard Dreyfuss is missing and
Harrison Ford shows up in a gag cameo. The sequel brings its principles into the more radical end of the 1960s, with Steve and Laurie, now married, on the fringes of the protest movement. Debbie and Carol have been lured into the flower-power milieu by rocker Newt (
Scott Glenn). And John has parlayed his love of hot rods into a drag-racing career. The unifying factors of the first
American Graffiti are sacrificed in favor of an episodic approach to the storyline.