Law abiding airplane mechanic, Jimmie Rainwood has his life turned upside down one fateful night. Two bent cops accidentally bust into Jimmie's house rather than the one up the street, and assuming him to be the drug dealer they're after they shoot him. To cover their tracks they frame him as a drug dealer and Jimmie gets a major prison sentence. Struggling to survive in prison Jimmie sets about applying his resourcefulness to the situation whilst his devoted wife Kate attempts to get him freed. Fellow inmate Virgil Cane (F. Murray Abraham) tries to keep Jimmie sane, but can he get justice?

A stressed executive (Steve Martin) and a bluff travelling salesman (John Candy) form an uneasy alliance when their plane is grounded due to bad weather. Candy offers to share a hotel room with Martin while they wait for the storm to subside, and Martin accepts. But from this point on the two seem to be stuck with each other, as they come up against a series of unlikely obstacles which continually and comically frustrate their attempts to get home for Thanksgiving.