A bumbling would-be bank robber (Martin Short) manages to take a hostage after his first attempt at a hold-up goes disastrously wrong. Unfortunately, the man (Nick Nolte) he has selected is an ex-con attempting to go straight, and the police automatically assume that it is the latter who is responsible for the bank job.

Making their escape, the unlikely duo are thus forced to work together and, along with the robber's six-year-old daughter, start heading towards the Canadian border.