Fledgling comic Benjy Stone can't believe his luck when his childhood hero, the swashbuckling matinee idol Alan Swann, gets booked to appear on the variety show he writes for. But when Swann arrives, he fails to live up to his silver screen image. Instead, he's a drunken womanizer who suffers from stage fright. Benjy is assigned to look after him before the show, and it's all he can do to keep his former idol from going completely off the rails.

美国漫画家韦勒曼性情古怪，刚愎自用，他带着妻子从美国奔往巴黎。这是他生平第一次外出旅行，他借着参加漫画展的机会，实质上是来追踪他的宝贝女儿。他的女儿来到巴黎大学念文学，刚好她的法国导师是韦勒曼的漫画迷，于是他邀请这个美国家庭参观他的郊外房产，由此引出一段又一段笑料，当然最后女儿也找到了真爱。