Ruby and Claude Montgomery are a very insecure jealous couple, because of their past sentimental life: Claude has had an affair with Ruby's older sister Rose when Ruby was a young girl; and Ruby has had many muscled boy-friends in the past. When Claude's uncle Hazel is arrested for attempting of murder a local, Ruby and Claude travel with Rose and Jewel to Arkansas to give their sympathy to the Montgomery family. While traveling, Jewel recalls all the time many events between Claude and Jewel, irritating Ruby. Finally they arrive in their destiny in the breast of the Montgomery, a low middle class family with total lack of communication.

When co-star Jim Varney was undergoing treatments for his illness, Billy Bob Thornton moved the schedule around so Varney could film his scenes.