A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them -- a damaged, brainy troublemaker -- and with the school's head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.

An episodic look at growing up in the innocence of America before the Vietnam War, focusing on a group of teens spend their time cruising and meeting at the drive-in.

The Mallard family is in a bit of a rut: while dad Mack is content to keep his family safe paddling around their New England pond forever, mom Pam is eager to shake things up and show their kids - teen son Dax and duckling daughter Gwen - the whole wide world. After a migrating duck family alights on their pond with thrilling tales of far-flung places, Pam persuades Mack to embark on a family trip, via New York City, to tropical Jamaica.