A group of homesteaders in 1875 are harassed by an evil, land-grabbing, gunslinging cattleman until a stranger with a mysterious past comes to their aid.

David Grodin has an obsessive-compulsive personality. But he is also just plain obsessed with Maxine Smith, his ex-wife of five years and his business partner. Their small business is Mr & Mrs, a small swimwear company he founded but that only became successful when she became its creative director. They work well together and are best friends, but Max feels that they just could not live together and be married to each other. They learn that because of a legal technicality, their divorce was never executed and thus they are still legally married.

Formerly filthy rich video store magnate Johnny Rose, his soap star wife Moira, and their two kids, über-hipster son David and socialite daughter Alexis, suddenly find themselves broke and forced to live in Schitt's Creek, a small depressing town they once bought as a joke.

Phoebe and fellow American Julian Peters meet in Rome, find a lost dog, and agree to return it to Monte Carlo to split the five thousand dollar reward. Discovering the dog's owner dead, they panic and become fugitives. Other victims of misfortune also become suspects, as the plot twists and luck and judgment desert everyone.