At a Pennsylvania college, Charlie Thurber is a good teacher without publications. His tenure review is in three months, and he's trying to get an article in print. Out of the blue, the dean announces that a new assistant professor will join them, a scholarly young woman from Yale. Charlie now faces competition. His best friend Jay, an anthropologist looking for Sasquatch, urges Charlie to declare war on the new colleague. He gives in to his better judgment and goes along. Meanwhile, his father hates the local assisted living facility where he lives, Charlie tries to connect with a woman he sees on television, and one of his students makes a pass. Is tenure in the works?

Burke is a motivational speaker whose book about dealing with grief is a best seller. His wife died in a car accident three years ago. He's in Seattle to lead a week-long workshop on healing and to negotiate a major multi-media deal. But something's amiss: he's a closet drinker, he won't ride elevators, his moods swing, he's estranged from his wife's father, and he's very much alone. In a hotel hallway, he bumps into a woman arranging flowers, tries to chat with her, and gets the brush-off. She's Eloise, a local florist who's just broken up with a boyfriend. He's persistent and they eventually go to dinner - it goes badly. What's blocking Burke? Can the physician heal himself.

Ronnie Reno (Klein) is a former TV action hero in dire need of a comeback. On his way back from a failed audition he winds up snowbound in a remote Nevada town run by scary meth dealers, including Merle (Busey), and their henchman (Durst). When he finds the body of a dead FBI agent there, life imitates Reno's art as he is forced to reunite with his former co-stars, including Devon (Beach), to save himself and the terrorized townsfolk.