When well-liked George becomes the first guy to be promoted from the assembly line to plant manager at a Los Angeles airplane parts factory, his life becomes a little more complicated. His pal Ernie and former compadres on the plant floor tease him about joining management. George's first test in the new position is to terminate one employee. He must choose either his acerbic line-inspector mother, Benny, or Ernie. George's hardworking and patient wife, Angie, copes with Benny's constant wisecracks and cares for the couple's kids, precocious 9-year-old Max and 13-year-old Carmen, who is dealing with the traumas of being a teenager.

George worries about Carmen when she brings a boy, Duncan (Jonathan Jones), home for the first time. He persuades Max to spy on them, but despite finding no impropriety, George threatens Duncan, embarrassing Carmen. Later, George replies to instant messages on Carmen's computer, pretending to be her. Although this infuriates both Carmen and Angie when they find out, George then goes to a party and further humiliates Carmen with his overprotectiveness. Finally, Carmen sadly ends the relationship with Duncan, not because of her father, but because Duncan tried to pressure her into having sex too soon. Carmen forgives George, who realizes that she is more responsible than he thought.

Angie plans a surprise birthday party for George; an accident-prone employee (Sandra Bullock) returns to work at the factory.

When a factory employee, Jim (Gregg Daniel), is arrested because of a bar fight, George and Benny audition people to replace him in their carpool. Meanwhile, Max wants to walk to school alone for the first time, prompting overprotective George to test his son's savvy. Max proves that he is smart, but George gets into trouble with the police.

After Max idolizes Angie's father, George concocts a false story about how wonderful his own father (Esai Morales) was. The reality is that George never knew his father--Benny always told him the man had died. But when George meets his estranged aunt in the supermarket, he learns that his father left the family shortly after George was born and is still alive somewhere. Benny reluctantly admits the truth but assures George that his father was an unfeeling man. However, George discovers an old photograph of his father cradling him gently and becomes determined to find him. Meanwhile, Angie pities a stray dog and brings him home. But she isn't prepared for all the care the sick animal requires.

George questions his company loyalty. After his bosses ask him to help on the assembly line, which is humiliating because it is the duty he performed before his promotion to manager, he receives a job offer from a competitor. Meanwhile, Carmen has to choose whether she wants to keep her best friend or be part of the popular crowd.