A natural born city boy, Alan (Sean Astin) is distraught when he learns his parents have decided to send him on a camping trip into the Sierra wilderness. He's even more distressed when he meets his counselor, Vic (Kevin Bacon), an outdoorsman whose enthusiasm borders on the psychotic. Joining several other city boys, Alan tries to make the best of a bad situation, with Vic threatening, coercing and bullying his charges across the woods, mountains and rivers of the great outdoors. So when Vic himself is seriously injured, Alan and his friends must decide whether to rescue their hated enemy or leave him behind.