Tracy Kim Richards Osborne and her brother Jay Brad Savage Osborne begin their Easter holidays with a heavy dose of disappointment: their mother, Carolyn Barbara Feldon Osborne, is far away in Hong Kong, and the plan to spend the break with their grandfather, the Los Angeles billionaire J.W. Osborne David Niven, feels more like a duty than a treat. Osborne, who has had his share of chaotic escapades with the children, stockpiles CYA-style precautions to keep the peace and to avoid a repeat of past messes. His measured, almost managerial approach clashes with the kids’ eagerness for something a little less orderly, and a quiet tension hangs over the early hours of their vacation.
On the plane, Jay discovers his pet skunk, Duster, is missing, and panic ripples through the cabin and the car rides that follow. At the same moment, Jamieson, Osborne’s loyal butler, misses the gate and the siblings slip away in a taxi, unaware of the wider trouble brewing at the airport. Across town, Duke [Darren McGavin] and Bert [Don Knotts], two fast-talking men with a growing debt to a local gangster, Big Joe Adamo [Vic Tayback], break into the airport offices to crack a safe. The heist teeters on a knife-edge when Bert accidentally locks the safe, forcing them to improvise as their escape vehicle is towed away. In a twist of fate, Duke and Bert end up sharing a taxi with Tracy and Jay, bringing the two groups into a single tense orbit.
At Duke and Bert’s apartment, the wild plan to vanish the kids continues to morph. Duke tries to shake them off, but Tracy’s charm and quick acting turn the night into an impromptu sleepover, and Duke finds himself softening enough to invite the children to stay. Osborne, who has been following their movements from a distance, finally decides to leave them be for the moment, deciding that the situation isn’t immediately dangerous.
The next day, Tracy hatches a bold scheme to follow Carolyn to Hong Kong by mailing Osborne a fake ransom note, demanding $100,000 by 4:00 pm that day. Meanwhile, Duke and Bert face pressure from Big Joe and the debt that keeps tightening its grip on them; Joe gives them 72 hours to settle up. The scam shifts into high gear as Osborne’s awareness of the ruse grows, and the clock continues to tick against the criminals’ plan.
Tracy refuses to give up and makes a bogus police call to insinuate a kidnapping, drawing in Sergeant Turner [Herschel Bernardi], a sharp-eyed officer with a relentless drive to nail the safe-cracking duo. Carolyn returns to America, demanding an explanation for her children’s disappearance, and the tension escalates as time dwindles. Negotiations temper the ransom with an unexpectedly lower demand, and a meeting by the docks is arranged to swap money for the children—though the police remain blissfully unaware that Osborne already knows where the kids are.
Duke realizes the trap just as the plan collides with reality: a frantic car chase along the docks erupts as the would-be abductors try to outrun the law, and Carolyn climbs into the back of Duke and Bert’s car, relieved to learn her children are safe from immediate danger. The chase climaxes when Turner’s deputy, Detective Longnecker [Charles Martin Smith], crashes the police cruiser into the water, a reckless move that foils the arrest but saves the moment for everyone else involved.
Back at Osborne’s estate, Tracy and Jay slip back inside and hide in the safe, only to be discovered by Jamieson as he locks the chamber. The air inside the safe grows dangerously thin, and with no combination available, Duke is forced to lean on his precise, practiced safe-cracking skills to pry the door open and free the children. Turner arrives on the scene and, witnessing Duke’s crack, chooses not to arrest him on the spot, a small mercy that lets the family begin to mend fences.
With the crisis averted, Osborne pays off Duke and Bert’s debts and begins to heal the rift with his grandchildren. Duke even begins laying groundwork for a future of his own, setting up a workshop or garage of his own, while the film closes on a hopeful note: a hint that a romance could blossom between Duke and Carolyn as the family looks toward a calmer, more connected Easter future. The events weave together a portrait of mischief, miscommunication, and reconciliation, anchored by a chorus of strong, human performances and the shared instinct to protect family—even when chaos comes knocking.
