Nickelodeon recalls the early days of the motion picture industry and is based in part on Peter Bogdanovich's interviews with pioneering directors Raoul Walsh and Allan Dwan. Lawyer-turned-movie-director Leo Harrigan (Ryan O'Neal) and Buck Greenaway (Burt Reynolds) an actor are both sent to California to shut down a renegade group of silent movie makers. Joining forces with cameraman Franklin Frank (John Ritter) leading lady Kathleen Cooke (Jane Hitchcock) and precocious prop-girl