After 17 years apart, Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar are finally drawn back together when Oscar’s son Bruce invites him to a wedding in California. Oscar, still hosting a regular poker game and maintaining his reputation as an untidy, easygoing sportswriter living in Sarasota, Florida, receives a surprising call. The news gets even more personal when Bruce reveals the bride is Hannah, Felix’s daughter, forcing both men to confront the lives they’ve led apart.
The journey to the wedding becomes a comic, chaotic road trip. On a flight from New York to Los Angeles, it’s clear that Felix hasn’t changed—he remains a fussing, allergy-suffering, compulsive neatnik. The two men are thrilled to be reunited at the airport and decide to share a rental car for the drive to the fictional San Malina for the ceremony. The voyage, however, gets off to a rough start: Oscar forgets his luggage at the Budget car rental, including wedding gifts and a wardrobe, and a series of mishaps follows. A sleepy Felix and a misguided turn by Oscar lead them off course, and their directions vanish along with the cigar ashes that fall in the car.
The comedy escalates as misfortune piles up. They find themselves lost in the countryside, arguing over a missing suitcase, and then the rental car skids off a cliff and bursts into flames. They are arrested—twice—by the local Santa Menendez police for seemingly trivial misdeeds, including a brush with a truck carrying undocumented workers; both times they’re released when the authorities discover extenuating circumstances, such as the confession of the truck driver and later the accidental death of a stranger in a vintage Rolls-Royce. Eventually, the police chief suggests they take a bus to San Malina, tired of babysitting two stubborn men.
Chance encounters complicate the route. On the bar’s stool they meet two extroverted women, Thelma and Holly, and share a few drinks. A stranger offers a ride in a rare, vintage Rolls-Royce, which becomes a doomed adventure when the elderly driver dies unexpectedly, sending Oscar and Felix back into custody. The Santa Menendez officers again release them, this time with orders to avoid trouble and board a bus.
Further trouble brews on the highway. On the bus, Thelma and Holly are pursued by their own redneck husbands, who decide to “cook a couple of fine geezers” in the woods for flirting with their wives. The husbands seize control of the vehicle, and Oscar and Felix are taken at gunpoint. The bus driver alerts the police, and a roadblock leads to another arrest, though the officers are happy to be rid of them when the situation cools.
A familiar connection rekindles at the airport and at the altar. After a third encounter with the local police, the pair is freed and escorted to the airport, where a woman bound for the wedding recognizes them: Felice Adams, the widow who is also the sister of Oscar’s ex-wife Blanche. A spark flickers between Felix and Felice, and as the wedding day arrives, the ceremony proceeds despite Bruce’s doubts about the lasting impact of his fathers’ history.
The wedding happens, and the next chapter begins. The ceremony goes off without a hitch, and the next day Felice leaves with Felix for San Francisco, while Oscar stays behind in Sarasota. The doorbell rings later that evening—Felix has returned, confessing that things with Felice didn’t work out—and he asks if he can move in with Oscar until he finds a place. Oscar refuses at first, but then relents, warning that their roommate days will end if Felix dares to match a single sock to Oscar’s. With a smile, Felix agrees, and soon he’s tidying the apartment, while Oscar begins to contemplate the idea of life without his longtime housemate—only to realize that the ties that once bound them still linger, ready to pull them back into a shared, if chaotic, friendship.
