Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) pomalo je nespretan medicinska sestra koja je nakon najave zaruka za Pam (Teri Polo) morala provesti nekoliko dana s roditeljima kako bi ih upoznala. Njihov početni sastanak neće imati puno sreće, posebno zbog sumnji koje Greg podiže u strogom ocu djevojke (Robert de Niro), zaštitničkom ocu koji je radio za CIA, iako je sada u mirovini, i to vrlo teško impresionirati. Jim od početka potpuno odbija Grega, ali što ga bolje upoznaje, njegovo odbijanje postaje apsolutni prezir, i on postaje najgora noćna mora ovog čovjeka da, unatoč tome što voli svoju djevojku i želi napraviti dobar prvi dojam, on tone sve dublje i dublje u blato vlastite nesposobnosti i morat će se žestoko boriti da promijeni grozno mišljenje koje njegova djevojka ima o njemu.
Jerry (Jamie Draven) was an idealist when he served in the first Gulf War. But when he was later deployed to Iraq, Jerry was an older man, a father of three and embittered by broken promises and unfulfilled desires. When Jerry returns from Iraq he has been transformed by horrors that cannot be forgiven. He lives a life of poverty, his children afraid of him and his wife, Nora (Vinessa Shaw), unsympathetic and unhappy. When Jerry discovers that Nora has betrayed him, his anger and despair drive him to commit an act so heinous and irreversible that nothing he had experienced in combat could have prepared him for.