When Cindy (Elaine Bromka) and her husband, Bob (Garrett M. Brown), have to leave town for a family emergency, there is only one person available to babysit for their three kids: Bob's lazy, carefree brother, Buck (John Candy). While he immediately gets along with the two younger children (Gaby Hoffman, Macaulay Culkin), Buck must change his bachelor lifestyle if he wants to be a responsible caregiver for the angst-filled teenager, Tia (Jean Louisa Kelly).