In a well-executed portrayal of the changing economic status and fluctuating emotions of a couple who are with each other for the long haul, director Albert Brooks has come up with an entertaining and at the same time, sobering comedy. David (Brooks) and Linda (Julie Hagerty) live in L.A. and are about to take on the responsibility of a new house worth nearly a half a million dollars once David gets his promotion to senior vice-president in his company. Once he arrives a work, David's nerves receive a severe jolt when his boss mellifluously informs him that someone else has the senior V.P.. job, and David is being sent to work on the East Coast. Exploding like a long-dormant volcano, David lets his boss know what he really thinks, heads home, packs up his past life, and convinces Linda to take off with him on a leisurely trip across the U.S. She agrees but then botches their journey in Las Vegas where they go to reaffirm their wedding vows -- she sneaks off to do some gambling in a casino and loses their whole wad, blowing everything. One of the funniest segments of the film is when the desperate David tries to convince the casino manager to give them back the money they lost. From then on out, the journey gets ever more interesting as the vagaries of real life take over, and economic hardship sets in somewhere around Arizona.