When Max makes an preposterous promise to a girl he has a crush on, his chances to fulfilling it seem hopeless when he is dragged onto a cross-country trip with his embarrassing father, Goofy.
Beth's life was going backwards. Her husband suddenly walks out on her, she has an alcoholic mother, an ambivalent father and so she decides to begin making a change by going back to school in order to take charge of her life.