Ned Rochlin chooses to look for the good in every situation and the best in everyone he meets, which often puts him at odds with the world around him especially his family. After all, what can you say about a guy who is quite easily tricked into selling pot to a uniformed police officer?

Upon being released from jail his girlfriend gives him the toss and refuses to give up his beloved dog Willie Nelson leaving Ned to seek shelter with his begrudging family. Unable to live under the same roof with his over-bearing mother, Ned tries living with each of his three sisters high-strung earth-mother of two Liz (Emily Mortimer) and her pretentious documentary filmmaker husband Dylan (Steve Coogan); Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), a career-driven journalist for Vanity Fair; and younger sister Natalie (Zooey Deschanel) and her partner lawyer Cindy (Rashida Jones) eventually all without success.

To each of them Ned appears to be in the middle of every one of their crises and despite his good intentions, he always seems to say or do the wrong thing at the wrong time. However in a series of painfully funny revelations and confessions the entire family starts to realise that maybe Ned isnt such an idiot after all.