Overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester is given five weeks' paid leave as an alternative to being fired after nearly causing a mid-air collision on the job and having an outburst over what turned out to be a fly covering a radar blip. He uses this time off to take his wife Sandy and children Jennifer, Bobby, and Laurie on a summer vacation from the Atlanta area to the Gulf Coast resort town of Citrus Cove, Florida, where they are beset by a never-ending barrage of problems. First they are bumped out of the front of the line of an upscale seafood restaurant in favor of arrogant local sailing champion Al Pellet, who becomes Jack's main nemesis through the film. The family then misreads the address, moves into the wrong house, and are forced to leave in the middle of the night, ending up in a decrepit shack on a public beach with a constant stream of beach-goers tromping through the property. Jack then suffers a leg injury that prevents him from spending time with his family.