Harried Mr. Hobbs (James Stewart) is tired out by his hectic life in the city. His wife, Peggy, finally manages to convince him to take the family on a seaside vacation where they can all be together for once. This, of course, is only the beginning of Mr. Hobbs' life getting much, much more harried than he had ever imagined. With their four children, the husbands of their two eldest daughters and their two grandchildren in tow, the Hobbs family arrives at their rented ocean cottage to find that it's a dark, ramshackle place with a byzantine water pump as dangerous as any mouse trap. That's just the start of the problems. Disaster and discord begin to ensue. Can Mr. Hobbs hold his family together long enough to survive this vacation?