The Wise Men of Riverside chronicles the adventures of three disheartened inmates at a California old folks home. One night, they are asked to play the parts of the three wise men in an outdoor production of the nativity story. Instead of the tinfoil prop that was supposed to rise above the stage, though, a real STAR appears, a miraculous supernova of a star, and soon everybody in the hushed audience is down on their knees. The "wise men" follow as the star leads them into their pasts, to long-forgotten people and places. Through Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Florida, news of the star is in all the papers, and on TV. People rally to their cause, clamoring to hear words of wisdom from the trio. However, these three old bickering nobodies are anything but wise. Or are they? The star eventually leads them to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a discovery none of them had foreseen.