 Richard Kimble has a recurring nightmare - that he is on a city street, is spotted by Lt. Gerard, and runs, only to find himself cornered in an alley where Gerard shoots him. He awakens from the latest encounter with this nightmare when a school bus crashes and erupts in flame outside of a small New England town of Northoak. Kimble rescues children and the injured driver before an explosion knocks him unconscious. Springer, the local sheriff, and his wife Wilma help the stranger recover, but when their son innocently photographs the injured Kimble for the local paper, the picture makes national news, and brings on Gerard. Sheriff Springer must thus arrest Kimble, but Gerard cannot take him back to Stafford until extradition papers are prepared, and in the process townspeople line up to say goodbye to Kimble - a spectacle that gives Kimble one chance to escape.