Since his parents died in a train crash, Will Donner refused to grow up and became an unemployed drifter, aimless except for one obsession: his undeclared love for neighborhood girl Emma Twist, whom he stalked at a distance throughout the country. When she, now an actress, returns to their home town for her terminally ill, grossly cynical father, Will stays with his unsympathetic, conventional brother Jim, whose wife and kid adore the free-spirited silly uncle, whom neighboring friend Joe and his family cheerfully put up. Now it's time to face Emma.