Twelve-year-old Josh Whitney and his seven-year-old brother Sam are on their way from their mother’s house in the San Fernando Valley region of California to go stay with their father Thom and his new family in Orlando, Florida.

As the hotel staff is on watch, Josh crashes a high-school reunion and lies that his mother was a graduate.

While crashing the event, Josh meets Derek Baxter, a drunken man claiming to have been in a relationship with the woman whose pin he took.

Derek drives the boys to a random house, where Josh breaks into with the hope of calling the police.

Upon entering the home, Derek sees a picture of the real family and goes after Josh for lying to him about everything leading up to the break-in.

With Josh in possession of copies of his new stepfather’s credit and debit cards, the boys drive the stolen car across the Western United States, where they encounter Allison, a runaway from Hannibal, Missouri, who the boys believe is “The Liberty Maid” in a coincidental situation based on another of Josh’s lies.

Josh tries several attempts to tell Sam the truth of his lies, and sends him on a flight back to Orlando.