“Mystery Train” is a ménage a trois of storylines involving Mitsuko (Yuki Kudoh) and Jun (Masatoshi Nagase), a Japanese couple touring the U. S., Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi) a widow traveling with the remains of her husband back to Italy and small-time crime trio Johnny (Joe Strummer), his buddy, Will Robinson (Rick Aviles) and his brother-in-law, Charlie (Steve Buscemi) are running from the law after robbing a liquor store. The only thing linking the three groups together is an old run-down hotel run by a man known only as Night Clerk (Jay Hawkins) and a scruffy, unkempt bellboy (Clinque Lee). Mitsuko and Jun are followed as they traverse the vast American plain on a mission to reach the home of Jun’s idol – Elvis Presley, landing, of course, in Memphis, Tennessee. Jun’s fascination of Elvis leads him to make a number of almost ludicrous associations between Elvis and the likes of Madonna and even the Statue of Liberty. Of course, they’re staying at the hotel, so periodically, they pop in and out with brief passes of the other characters. Meanwhile, Luisa is almost as pitiful as the bellboy after being delayed for the night in Memphis and becoming some conman’s victim not once, but twice. She’s stuck at the dingy hotel with an annoyingly chatty roomie, Dee Dee (Elizabeth Bracco). Thinking she’s due for some shut-eye, the poor thing has her own Elvis encounter at the hotel when he pops in for visit during the night. So, with the Japanese couple out on the town and Luisa and Dee Dee stuck in the hotel room, along comes Johnny, Will and Charlie who are seeking a hideout for the night at the same hotel after getting drunk, robbing a liquor store and injuring the store owner in the process. The next day, as the Japanese couple head off for the next part of their exploration and Luisa finally rids herself of Dee Dee to get on to Italy with her dead husband, the three hoodlums barely escape capture from a police car that’s not really chasing them. It all just goes to show what can happen in a single night!