Delivery firm truck driver Eddie Popko, a dreamy wannabee-cowboy, always flirts with convenience store clerk Rhonda Thompson, but his enthusiasm seems curbed when he meets her meanly hostile twin daughters Julie and Sarah, aged five. When the bratty pair hear mother wine all she wants for Christmas is a holiday without the handfuls, they decide to oblige by sneaking off to great grandma Mimi. Unable to find her or the right bus, they end up sneaking into Eddie's truck. He takes to babysitting...

Rick has been given a new identity by the FBI for helping convict a drug dealing FBI agent. Fifteen years later his former fiance recognises him. Rick's FBI 'minder' has been replaced by a corrupt agent who helps the drug dealing FBI agent and his accomplice locate him. There are many subsequent chase scenes as Rick and girlfriend revisit his former haunts.

With their father away fighting in the Civil War, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy grow up with their mother in somewhat reduced circumstances. They are a close family who inevitably have their squabbles and tragedies. But the bond holds even when, later, men friends start to become a part of the household.