Roy DuBro (Karim Prince) and Ed Klingbottom (Thomas F. Wilson) are garbage men who are constantly undermined by their corrupt boss Junior Assistant Dispatcher Trainee Stanley Snyder (M. Emmet Walsh).

One day, Earth is secretly invaded by an army of flying saucers, commanded by a Darth Vader-esque alien called Glaxxon (Dave Fennoy).

President Smith (Barry Bostwick) and his significantly more competent press secretary (Donna D'Errico) receive news about the invasion from General Vice (George Kennedy) and the President tells his advisor, Dr. Strangemeister (Wigald Boning), to find two people with alien experience and make them into secret agents.

While Ed hacks into the computer and installs a self-destruct virus, Roy wrestles with Glaxon and ultimately defeats him by launching him into space.

With the virus uploaded, all the on-board humans and aliens make their way to the escape pods a good ten seconds before the ship explodes.

Unable to comprehend being defeated by garbage men, Strangemeister exposes his true intentions to the President and reveals that he was actually a tiny man (Ben Stein) inside a robotic humanoid suit who was shrunken in a sauna by an alien.

To reward them for their success, the President promotes the two heroes to 'Senior Assistant Dispatcher Trainees' and demotes Stanley who is forced to pick up the trash for everyone on the planet (as all the other garbage trucks were destroyed).