Richard’s 17 year-old, tomboy granddaughter, KIMMIE, is trapped in a suburban world governed by her domineering mother, DIANE, and her all but absentee father JEFFERY.  She has turned to smoking marijuana in an attempt to escape her mother’s constant nagging about school and grades and to find an outlet for her stifled imagination. 

When Richard stumbles upon Kimmie’s marijuana stash, their joyless worlds collide. Richard’s attempts at scolding his granddaughter backfire, and Kimmie ultimately convinces him to try the demon weed. Shaken out of his depression, Richard becomes an instant convert. He goes on a one-man marijuana campaign to cure the old-age doldrums of his old army buddy, Louis, and his other friends who reside at the nearby Park View Senior Center.

Although Richard’s movement gains more recruits than expected, not all of the seniors are happy about this life-affirming herb. The rift between the conflicting factions comes to a humorous head. Yet, the spirit of the “Enlightened Seniors League” will not be so easily dampened!

As the controversial herb wreaks its magic havoc on Richard and the rest of the Park View residents, it is negatively affecting Kimmie’s grades and her life choices.  In her attempts to be accepted, she falls in with the “wrong” crowd causing her mother to crack down even harder.  However, Diane fails to realize that Kimmie is growing out of her parental control.  Kimberly’s father Jeffery is too busy with work to take an interest in what is happening with his daughter. He defers to Diane who is clearly not handling the situation appropriately. 

Richard helps Kimmie to understand that the choices she makes are hers, not her parents’.  He also helps his granddaughter to leave marijuana behind, so she can face her challenges with a clear head. As Richard says, “Marijuana is not for the young; it’s for the people who have forgotten what it means to be young.”  With a wisdom and self confidence gleaned from her heartfelt talks with Richard, Kimmie reorients her priorities and focuses on her true passion: writing.  She is now on the right track in school and better able to navigate the shallow world of high school.

Kimmie reciprocates Richard’s positive influence by helping him transform his old beat-up camper van into a road-worthy cruising machine.  Richard and his wife were going to drive that camper across the country after he retired.  However, since she passed it has sat their rusting, a symbol of all Richard has left undone.  Kimmie’s unexpected mechanical expertise and her youthful spirit breathe new life into Richard and his camper, and unwittingly rekindle his desire to finish the trip he started so many years ago.

Although Kimmie begins to make positive choices, Richard makes some poor choices of his own.  As he stands up to Diane and Jeffery for their misguided parenting, his stay in their home becomes untenable.  After he is caught hosting a pot party for his elderly friends while the couple is away, he is asked to join his friend Louis and company up at the Park View. 

Rather than sell his refurbished camper and be put out to pasture, Richard, Louis and Angel decide to drive the Winnebago to California.  Each mile westward another adventure and another mile closer to their destiny.

While Richard and the boys discover the wonders of this country, Kimmie is discovering things about herself that she kept hidden under insecurities and her attempts to fit in.  She is meeting genuine friends and is preparing to head off to NYU for college.

When Richard and the boys arrive in California, they pass through an agricultural inspection station as though some border to heaven. Peter, the inspection officer, lets them pass, and they cross into a beautiful light that engulfs them and their cackles of joy.  They have reached salvation! Kimberly later goes on to become a writer and the person Richard always knew she would be.  She wins a literary award for her book about her grandfather’s marijuana adventures, “Never Too Old to be Young.”

His couch plays host to HERB THE DISTURBED, a man who believes his penis is controlling his every move; ANTONIO FERLINGHETTI who fancies himself a superhero of the sexual revolution; the overweight NANCY VALENTE who suffers from what Stanwix deems the Digesto-Sex Syndrome, the bald and belligerent DAVID SNIDER; the “phallically” challenged, RICK JENSEN; and the voluptuous SHEILA “silicone” SMYTHE, who believes she has special sexual healing powers. 

These patients not only test Stanwix’s theories but his sanity as well. Each one of them of push Stanwix closer to the edge. Embroiled in psychological warfare with his colleagues, disturbed by his patients, a failed marriage and a mid-life crisis of his own, Stanwix is driven to a diet of scotch and Xanax as well as a nervous breakdown. Yet, despite his collapse and several breaches of etiquette, can he overcome the one obstacle to winning this wager, his own mind?

Armed with English he learned from old Film Noir movies and an old world attitude, he takes on the formidable task of restoring the family to its former glory.  However, with a major police crack down, the Russian Mafia muscling in on the family’s business, as well as traitors in his own family who no longer understand loyalty or what it means to be Italian, he will need all his old world cunning to pull this off. 

Can he teach these half-breed Italian-Americans their heritage, so they can organize and defeat their enemies or will he be brought down by traitors and his own old world obstinacy in this comic parody of mafia movies and mafia life? 

When Carlos doesn’t answer as she knocks on the bathroom door, his mother frantically calls the paramedics who try their best to resuscitate him. However, in addition to the rescue crew, two ANGELS also come to take Carlos to the hereafter. As the Angels ascend with Carlos, the Paramedics are able to resuscitate Carlos, causing him to slip from the celestial hands and return to Earth. This prompts a battle for the life or death of Carlos. In the end, one of the Angels returns to sabotage the paramedics’ equipment, and the Angels ascend once again with Carlos, laughing and high-fiving each other.

Though Carlos believes he is on his way to heaven where he will escape the torments of his life on Earth, his battle with English isn’t over yet. He must make a pit stop in purgatory, because he doesn’t speak its mother tongue, English.  He is forced to learn this language if he wants to cross through the pearly gates and into heaven.

In purgatory, Carlos is faced with a host of characters and situations straight out of Hollywood films. Purgatory is run by a diabolical FEMALE GERMAN GENERAL and an angry DRILL SERGEANT who run the place like a mixture of a prison, a high school and a boot camp as depicted in various Hollywood movies very familiar to Spanish audiences.   

Just as on Earth, Carlos is unable to fit in or follow the rules.  He has many problems with his classmates and teachers which result in problems with the Sergeant who forces him to do push ups and clean toilets as punishment. While cleaning toilets, Carlos realizes that the cleaning products he uses have the same effect as alcohol. He gets drunk causing even more problems with the the Sergeant who pleads with the “Directora” to have Carlos expelled from purgatory and sent straight to hell. However, as the Purgatory authorities are worried about the diminishing population, Carlos is given one last chance.

He is assigned to the alternative classroom of a HIPPIE TEACHER, who teaches English through meditation and the lyrics of rock and roll songs from the ’60s and ’70s. In addition to sharing Carlos’ rebellious spirit, the Hippie Teacher also shares with him the answers to the Final Exam.

To the consternation of the Sergeant and the Director as well as his classmates, Carlos is able to attend the PROM, the typical end of course dance as depicted in Hollywood movies .  Spurned by his classmates and teachers and bored out of his mind by the bland goings-on, Carlos spikes the punch with the cleaning products that he got drunk on previously. The Prom degenerates into a complete orgy, compromising the innocence of his peers and superiors. 

The Sergeant and the Director end up in bed together along with many others. They both know that Carlos had a hand in this scandal, and that there is now way he could have passed the final exam without the help of someone on the inside. The Sergeant is determined to find out who helped Carlos to pass the exam before the graduation ceremony takes place that afternoon.

After threats of physical violence, the Sergeant finds out that the Hippie Teacher gave Carlos the answers to the final exam. He bursts into the graduation ceremony just as Carlos is receiving his diploma. A comic chase ensues, and Carlos is finally captured and sent down a chute that leads directly to hell. 

Carlos lands between two scantily clad women (his assistants).  Satan welcomes him in perfect Spanish and offers him a glass of cognac and a Cuban cigar.  Carlos looks around wondering why he even bothered to go to heaven when hell is so much more appealing.