Having been discharged from the Marines for a hayfever condition before ever seeing action, Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) delays the return to his hometown, feeling that he is a failure. While in a moment of melancholy, he meets up with a group of Marines who befriend him and encourage him to return home to his mother by fabricating a story that he was wounded in battle with honorable discharge. They make him wear a uniform complete with medals and is pushed by his new friends into accepting a Hero's welcome when he gets home where he is to be immortalized by a statue that he doesn't want, has songs written about his heroic battle stories, and ends up unwillingly running for mayor. Despite his best efforts to explain the truth, no one will listen.

　　克拉克（切维·切斯 Chevy Chase 饰）带着妻子艾伦（比佛莉·德安姬罗 Beverly D'Angelo 饰）和一双儿女驾驶着一辆厢式货车，踏上了前往洛杉矶的旅途。这趟旅途对于克拉克来说期待已久，他希望能够通过此来增进同妻子之间的关系。　　然而，刚刚驶到圣路易斯市，克拉克一行人便遭遇了接二连三的挫折，想干的事情一件都没干成，不仅如此，行为古怪特立独行的艾德娜姑妈（伊莫吉恩·科卡 Imogene Coca 饰）带着她脾气暴躁的宠物狗还在半道上加入了这一家人的行列。哪知道祸不单行，艾德娜姑妈和她的狗接二连三的死去了，他们必须把姑妈的尸体送到她的儿子诺米那里，但事情并没有想象的那么简单。

特鲁迪（蓓蒂·赫顿 Betty Hutton 饰）是一个天真到有些犯傻的女孩，驻扎在镇上的军队要离开了，居民们为士兵们举行了热闹的欢送派对，特鲁迪在派对上喝高了，第二天醒来时，她发现自己不仅于一夜之间嫁为了人妻，腹中竟然还怀上了某个士兵的孩子，更糟糕的是，特鲁迪并不知道自己的丈夫，孩子的父亲究竟是谁。　　诺威尔（埃迪·布莱肯 Eddie Bracken 饰）一直以来都深深的爱着特鲁迪，即便现在特鲁迪身上背负了这么多的麻烦，诺威尔对特鲁迪的感情都没有一丝一毫的改变，这让特鲁迪彻底改变了对诺威尔的的看法，而诺威尔则打算承担起本不属于他的责任。