At Christmas time, New York City restaurant manager Bill Firpo's (Nicolas Cage) brothers Dave (Jon Lovitz) and Alvin (Dana Carvey) are paroled early and placed in Bill's custody. Dave and Alvin ask Bill to take them to Paradise, Pennsylvania to do a favor for a fellow inmate of theirs. Bill refuses as his brothers are not allowed out of the state and he knows Dave's pathological tendencies. He only agrees after getting linked to a robbery his brothers committed.