Quickly approaching her fiftieth birthday, talented and once-famous screenwriter Byrdie has lately had a hard time finding work in the movie biz. As she's aged, the industry hasn't, and the new regime isn't interested in what a maturing wordsmith has to say. In desperation, Byrdie dreams up a script-selling scheme, enlisting her attractive nephew Jason, a car salesman, to pitch her work as his own. The ruse is a wild success: All the key players eat up his charm, and her scripts soon become the hottest thing in town!
Estranged from his father, college student Jake is lured home to New York for Christmas with the promise of receiving a classic Porsche as a gift. When the bullying football team dumps him in the desert in a Santa suit, Jake is left without identification or money to help him make the journey. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Allie, does not know where he is, and accepts a cross-country ride from Jake's rival, Eddie.
A retired widower wanders away from his daughter's home, hooks up with a free-spirited young woman, and goes on a cross-country odyssey to look up an old flame he's recently heard from after 55 years.