In the town of Shelbyville, Illinois, Gilly Noble falls in love with hairdresser Jo Wingfield. Unfortunately, just as they're about to tie the knot, a private detective shows Gilly proof that he is actually Jo's long-lost brother. Horrified at the thought that she had sex with her brother, Jo flees to Beaver, Oregon while Gilly tries to console himself with the fact that at least he apparently has a biological family. When it later turns out that Gilly isn't Jo's brother, he embarks on a quest to find her and bring her home.
This film contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: As though Valdine trying to get Jo to marry someone for money wasn't bad enough, after Leon is revealed to have killed a man and come to the wedding, she starts beating him for ruining her plans.
- An Arm and a Leg: Dig lost both of his legs in a plane crash and uses prosthetics.
- Ass Shove: At one point, Gilly gets his hand stuck in a cow's rear end.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Dig declares that he will repay Gilly tenfold for giving him a lift.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Leon might appear to be a friendly person who just wants to know his birth family, but he ultimately rams a truck and accidentally kills a man in order to please his mother.
- Brother–Sister Incest: The whole plot hinges on the idea that Gilly and Jo might be engaging in this.
- Everyone Has Standards: Walter went along with Valdine's plans at first, but seeing Jo so sad about Gilly's apparent death drives him to admit the truth.
- Gold Digger: Valdine's goal is to get access to Jack Mitchelson's money.
- Hidden Villain: Jack Michelson is ultimately revealed to be the one who presented the fake evidence that Gilly was Jo's brother in order to lure her back to him.
- Love-Obstructing Parents: Valdine wants Jo to marry the wealthy Jack Mitchelson over the poorer Gilly, and resorts to increasingly desperate methods to achieve this.
- Meet Cute: Gilly and Jo first meet when Gilly goes for a haircut from Jo and she mentions that her cat is missing, and her description of the cat matches one that Gilly found at the animal shelter.
- Mistaken for Incest: The entire plot involves two lovers whose relationship comes to an abrupt halt when a private detective tells them that they're long-lost siblings. When the guy finds out that the detective was mistaken, he sets off on a quest to find the girl, who has since moved to a different town.
- Mistaken for Suicidal: At the end, Gilly sees Jo standing on the edge of a building with a gun and thinks she's going to kill herself, but it turns out she was just giving the one-gun salute to what she thought was Gilly's ashes.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Dig claims that he has heritage to several different Native American nations.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Leon appears at the wedding, Walter admits Valdine's deception and Jack's assistant in faking the evidence that Gilly was Jo's brother, and Jo is left devastated and outraged at the revelation.
- Selective Obliviousness: Valdine immediately declares that Gilly is a charlatan grifter when she learns that he isn't her son, even though he would have hardly done all that if he'd known the truth.
- Surprise Incest: The revelation that Gilly might be Jo's biological brother comes just as they are about to marry.
- Swapped Roles: Walter spends most of the film basically crippled by a stroke, but the film ends with him back to full health and Valdine afflicted by a stroke instead.
- That Came Out Wrong: Gilly tells Jo that he bought her underwear and naked pictures from a pervert at the mental hospital without providing context (he just bought them from one of Jack's henchmen to stop the other man selling them to anyone else).
- Villain with Good Publicity: Jack Mitchelson is a scumbag pot dealer who hides behind the guise of a wealthy philanthropist; his reputation is so good that Dig has to praise him in public as he feels he can't trust anyone else in the town.
