EARL (80s), a military veteran, is ready to end his life and “lay in the daisies.” Feeling invisible and broken, he misses his wife of fifty-eight years, Lou, who died two years earlier. He remains haunted by his inability to save a fellow Marine in Vietnam. Therapy, however, is out of the question. Earl is old school: grin and bear it. His days are spent at the VFW Post or behind the wheel of his beloved 1960s COBRA, a muscle car with a chrome air scoop. His nephew, ZANDER (30), holds the car key.
Zander is Earl’s court-appointed guardian, a role he assumed after his mother died. Earl had pistol-whipped a mechanic who mistakenly used regular oil in the Cobra. Zander and his fiancé, JECKA (30), live with Earl. The men clash on just about everything, starting with the recycling bin. Earl wishes his nephew would “throw a punch and put his pecker on the rails” for something he believed in.
Zander, coddled and raised on Ritalin and therapy, is a social media manager whose claim to fame is an ED medication campaign that launched ten million erections. His nom de guerre: “Facebook Stiffy.” Concerned about climate change, Zander dreams of owning a vegan food truck – “From Seed to Stomach.” But he can’t get off the dime.
Jecka, with her sleeve of Maori tattoos, seemingly has a direct line to the spirit world. She sells DREAMCATCHERS on Etsy, paints scenes of Aboriginal hunters, and recently ordered a boomerang from Australia. In addition, she turned Earl’s lawn into a pollinator garden of tall grass and daisies. Her dream is to have a child, currently on hold because of Zander’s inability to perform.
Earl and Zander share nighttime dreams involving the same spirit guide: An Aboriginal hunter who wields a boomerang.
Zander has been working with a senior living facility, SUNNY ACRES, to launch a social media campaign extolling the virtues of a psoriasis cream. LUBRIDREAM DAY is this Friday. Friday would also have been Earl’s sixtieth anniversary. Impressed by Sunny Acres, Zander has decided to commit Earl there three days prior.
The night before, Earl and Zander struggle over a gun in Earl’s bedroom. A shot fires, which severs a dreamcatcher over the bed. WHOOSH…CRUNCH. Richard Nixon under glass shatters and falls off the wall. Earl and Zander swap bodies.
EARL (AS ZANDER) is initially thrilled at his youthful prowess. ZANDER (AS EARL) is horrified, especially after failing to convince Jecka who he is.
Earl (as Zander) attends therapy sessions, at which his tales of war and his aggressive personality baffle the psychiatrist. It is a Buddhist fable that helps him let go of his trauma. At work, he is a whiskey-drinking, bull-in-a-China-shop, dynamiting political correctness and cutting to the chase. His expertise with the elderly earns him the task of ‘boomer wrangler’ at LubriDream Day. On the homefront, Earl (as Zander) must fend off Jecka’s advances, from her cuffing his hands behind his back to offering to tickle his anus with an ostrich feather. He has always been loyal to Lou, and he always will be.
Zander (as Earl) follows a two-tier strategy: he preps the Sunny Acres residents for LubriDream Day while attempting to reclaim his body. Meanwhile, he enters a vibrant society of colorful characters –- from FRANK, his attorney roommate who deals Thorazine and Adderall, to “naughty” DOTTIE, a sex-loving granny who buried seven husbands. Zander (as Earl) forms a men’s group to share feelings. Finally, he has an epiphany: every second counts; why wait until you’re eighty to realize your dream of a food truck?
Earl (as Zander) begins to have misgivings. At thirty, he’ll live another fifty years before he can join Lou. Zander (as Earl) worries that he’ll be trapped in his uncle’s body forever, which will deny him a lifetime with Jecka.
The plot thickens when Jecka overhears Earl (as Zander) and Zander (as Earl) discussing her, along with LubriDream Day. Earl (as Zander), eager for a promotion, wants his nephew to “prep the corpses” at Sunny Acres.
Zander, instead, preps the residents to rise in rebellion. The night before LubriDream Day, Jecka puts Earl (as Zander) through a series of tests, which confirms her suspicion. Finally, he fesses up and admits he wants to be Earl again. She refuses to help, however. It is a journey that the uncle and nephew must take together. “Listen to your spirit guide,” she instructs.
On LubriDream Day, Earl’s buddies from the VFW post mount an extraction operation involving a gun, smoke, and handcuffs. The live event devolves into chaos. Dottie and Zander (as Earl) barricade themselves in a room and film each other. Dottie demonstrates the proper way to apply the cream using a five-foot, fleshed-tone tube of LubriDream with a spherical cap. Zander (as Earl) drops his trousers. Hashtag LubriDream trends on Twitter.
Earl (as Zander) charges into the facility and sees an unusual image projecting on a large monitor. Only he knows it is a close-up of his testicles.
Smoke fills the facility. The fire alarm sounds. The sprinklers let loose. After Earl (as Zander) disarms his Marine buddy, he puts his shoulder on the door. Zander (as Earl) clocks him. Then, on his back, Earl (as Zander) informs his nephew how they can swap bodies.
Back home, they sort out their differences and enter the spirit world together, where Earl (as Zander) hears Lou calling his name. Earl dies of a heart attack and receives a military burial –not without shenanigans– attended by Zander, Jecka, his VFW buddies, and friends from Sunny Acres.
One year later, Sunny Acres holds its ‘2nd Annual LubriDream Day.’ Dottie’s hand and eye are still wandering. We check in with a few other characters. Earl’s Cobra is in an automotive museum with a GREENPEACE bumper sticker. Jecka and their three-month-old baby visit Zander at his food truck. In the truck, we see Jecka’s painting of the spirit guide and a photo of Earl and Louise.
We end in the cemetery, where daisies rise around Earl and Lou’s tombstones. WHOOSH…SQUAWK. A pigeon drops to the ground.