Lenny and Abbott are garbage truck drivers who service the homes of movie stars in Beverly Hills and Hollywood. They deal with the likes of , and on daily basis. During a routine landfill trip, they discover 's Best Supporting Actor Oscar for " (1996)". As they trace their steps back to Cuba's house, wondering how the Oscar got in the trash, the news breaks out in the media and they become overnight celebrities. As they get sucked into the Hollywood scene and celebrity world, Lenny starts to dream big and loses it completely when he sees his dreams go up in smoke, while jeopardizing his friendship with Abbott, their jobs and their lives.

Walrus-like warden, Sven "Swede" Sorenson, a cross between Bluto and Wimpy, runs the prison, murders convicts who escape, and has the FBI on his trail in the form of agent Karen Polarski, the daughter of the town's corrupt judge. Swede's twins tell their father they're pregnant (they aren't), so he pushes their dim boyfriends, Bud and Larry, into shotgun marriages. He also turns his sons-in-law into slave labor, so Bud hatches an escape plan: to rob a train carrying old bills to the mint for burning. Larry's his reluctant accomplice. When Bud is captured and railroaded into Swede's jail, his death looks certain, until he hatches yet another plan that requires Larry's help.