Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne are two kindly but dimwitted best friends living in Providence, Rhode Island. When Lloyd falls in love with a woman he is driving to the airport, he retrieves a briefcase she leaves at an airport. Unaware that the briefcase contains ransom money for her kidnapped husband, Lloyd tries to return it to her before the kidnappers can get it. However, he soon finds out the hard way, when they meet again that she is way out of his league.