Teddy Duncan's Middleclass family on a road trip from their home in Denver to visit Mrs. Duncans Parents, the Blankenhoopers, at Palm Springs. Once they find themselves stranded between Denver and Utah, they attempt to cram a ride into Las Vegas with a normal older couple at a station wagon from Roswell. As it happens that the pair thinks that they are the victims of alien abduction. The Duncan's has to resort to buying a clunker Yugo to get at Utah, have their luggage and live a zany Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Blankenhooper.