In the Goode family, Frank (ROBERT DE NIRO) was the breadwinner, working his entire life applying PVC coating to telephone lines, while his wife raised the kids and thus stayed in better contact with them once they grew up and moved out. Now retired and a widower of less than a year, Frank has planned their first family get-together since his wife's death, and thus he's disappointed when they all cancel on him. Accordingly, and against his doctor's advice, Frank sets out on a cross-country road trip via bus and train to pay surprise visits to all of them.
The first stop is New York where he waits to meet his painter son David, admiring some of his work in the gallery below his place. When David never shows, Frank slips an envelope under his door and heads off to Chicago to see Amy (KATE BECKINSALE), an advertising exec. She's surprised to see her dad, but like her husband, Jeff (DAMIAN YOUNG), and their son, Jack (LUCIAN MAISEL), she doesn't have time to spend with him, what with already busy schedules.
After handing Amy her envelope, Frank is off to see her brother, Robert (SAM ROCKWELL), who Frank believes is a conductor but in reality is just a percussionist in the orchestra. Robert senses his dad isn't pleased with the discovery, while Frank begins to believe his kids might not be telling him the truth, especially when Robert says he's headed off to Europe with the other performers and thus doesn't have time to spend with him.
His sister, Rosie (DREW BARRYMORE), who's a dancer in shows in Vegas, does have time, but her seemingly too-good-to-be true lifestyle similarly raises red flags. The same holds true for her and her siblings seemingly hiding something about David from him. As Frank tries to figure out what's going on, he must also come to terms with the fact that his kids aren't as open with him as they were with their mother.