Ernie Fitzpatrick (Pamela Adlon) is a daredevil kid who lives in Terra Dino with his best friend Max Santiago (Yuri Lowenthal) and his sister Julia (Tara Strong) who likes to tattle on him. Ernie and Julia live with their overprotective mother Sue (Jane Lynch), who has been chosen as the mother of the year. Ernie is told to go to the store after school to keep an eye on it, but he disobeys orders and goes with Max to the Terra Dino Museum to sneak into a forbidden area still under construction to see the bones of the ferocious Sarcosuchus. Julia follows them there and uses a quarter that Ernie gave her to set off the alarm. Julia is able to escape while Ernie and Max get caught by the guards, and Sue grounds Ernie for three weeks. Ernie disobeys orders once more by sneaking out of the house.