Prepare to be floored.
A hot-shot race-car named Lightning McQueen gets waylaid in Radiator Springs, where he finds the true meaning of friendship and family.
The short film opens with Mater playing pranks on the other residents of Radiator Springs: moving Red's flowers, bursting out from a pile of tires to scare Guido and Luigi, dressing up as a cone vampire to scare Sally, attempting to scare Lizzie while she's sleeping (which is unsuccessful), moving Fillmore's gas cans back outside while he takes them in, and jumpscaring Lightning McQueen when he believes Mater is hiding behind a pile of cans ready to jump out (what was really behind the pile of cans is one of Mater's signs). This sequence culminates with Mater teasing McQueen as if he had seen "the Spooklight," a U.S. Route 66 legend recounted to Pixar by Dean Walker of the Route 66 association Kansas Historic Route 66 Association.
All of the Cars Toons follow the same formula: Mater tells a story of something he has done in the past. In the story, Mater finds himself in an inescapable predicament. When McQueen questions Mater over whether the events in the story actually occurred, Mater responds, "Don't you remember? You was there too!", and continues the story including McQueen's participation.
Finn McMissile, a British spy, infiltrates the world's largest untapped oil reserves owned by a group of Lemon to rescue a fellow spy. He witnesses the lemons, seemingly led by Professor Zündapp, load an electromagnetic pulse emitter, disguised as a camera onto a shipping crate. After being discovered, he flees and fakes his death.
Lightning McQueen sets out to prove to a new generation of racers that he's still the best race car in the world.
Lightning McQueen and Mater go on a cross-country road trip to see Mater's sister.
