John, an irascible Scotsman and an uptight English woman, Maude, both in their late 50s, take on the journey of a lifetime. They are brought together when his ward marries her niece. Then, when the young couple decides to adopt a newborn baby, the older couple has to travel 6,000 miles to California to pick up the child and bring her safely home to Scotland.

The problem is, John and Maude despise each other. To make matters worse, they get stranded in San Francisco for several weeks and are expected to jointly care for the helpless newborn. There they form a new partnership and learn some startling lessons about life and love.