A sacked maid and butler kidnap a pampered dog and want $20,000 ransom from the rich owner, Lila Manchester. A shaggy dog named Boomer helps save it and becomes a member of the family who originally found him.

Nora Scoonover is 35, divorced, in debt and going nowhere when her 16 year-old son, Steven, runs away from camp and asks to spend the summer with her. Together they decide that she will enter the Ironman Triathlon competition in Hawaii, although she has not done any running since high school. The experience brings them together.