Dave (Vince Vaughn), a dealer for the Guitar Hero Wii game, and Ronnie (Malin Akerman), a stay at home mom, are a typical couple with two young boys. They experience various stresses in their lives, including redecorating their house and raising their sons. Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristen Davis) are high school sweethearts with a typical rebellious teenage daughter. They are unhappy and no longer in love. Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) are a neurotic couple who've experienced multiple failed attempts to conceive. And Shane (Faizon Love), who has recently separated, has a much younger twenty-something girlfriend, Trudy (Kali Hawk).
At Dave's son's birthday party, Jason and Cynthia call a side meeting and, using PowerPoint, they announce their troubled marriage and that they are considering divorce. As a last ditch effort to save their marriage, they have found a special couples therapy resort named "Eden". They have found a package deal named the "Pelican Package": half the normal cost if they can get 3 other couples to join them. In their PowerPoint presentation, they show beautiful pictures of sunlit beaches, and assure the others that the couples therapy parts are purely optional.
That night, Dave & Ronnie discuss their stresses, their desire to go to the retreat, and their inability to go because of childcare responsibilities. Suddenly their home security alarm is activated when Jason shows up unexpectedly, making a house visit to further sell the idea of the retreat. The commotion wakes up Dave and Ronnie's kids, who reveal that they have overheard their parents' conversations. Fearing that their parents are contemplating divorce, the kids have already arranged for Dave's father to come babysit them so that their parents can go to "Eden".
