The film opens with a prologue in which a Jewish man has received help from an older Jewish man after his wheel has fallen off his wagon. When the man returns home to his wife and tells her the story and who the old man was she is mortified because the old man has been dead for three years. The old man arrives at their home as he was invited for dinner because of his kindness in the snow. But the old man is called out by the wife for being an evil spirit and she stabs him in the heart with an ice pick. The old man's shirt begins to fill with blood and he gets up and walks out of their home.
We then find Danny, Larry and Judith's son, listening to his transistor radio with an earpiece during Hebrew school. Danny tries to pay his friend for drugs but isn't able to do so before his teacher confiscates his radio which has the money in it. Larry has a checkup with his doctor and he's in good health.
We later see that one of Larry's students, Clive, wants to be able to retake his test in order to get a passing grade. Larry doesn't agree to give him another chance. Clive leaves an envelope full of money for Larry as a bribe. Larry soon learns that his wife Judith wants a get, which is a document in the Jewish community that is given from the husband to the wife so that she can legally get a divorce. Judith is in love with widower Sy Ableman and she wants to end their marriage.
Larry is up for tenure with the review board, and he learns that someone has been sending defamatory letters about him. This could effect his tenure. And later Clive's father tells Larry that he can either take the money and give his son a passing grade or be sued for defamation for claiming that Clive bribed him. Judith and Sy then ask Larry to move out of the house until the divorce is final in order to keep things calm at their house with the kids. Larry doesn't understand whey Judith doesn't just move in with Sy, but they won't do that as it isn't allowed.
So, Larry moves into a motel with his brother Arthur who's been living with the family and taking up the bathroom from Sarah (Larry & Judith's daughter) who always wants to wash her hair. Larry then learns that his brother is having charges of solicitation and sodomy brought against him. In the midst of all of this Larry attempts to see his Rabbi. But when the Rabbi is sent away he's passed off to a Junior Rabbi who doesn't seem to understand his situation. He then gets to see the first Rabbi, whose advice is not close to what he hoped for. Desperate, Larry pleads to see the head Rabbi, but is denied.
Sy and Larry then get into separate car crashes at the same time. Larry walks away unharmed, but Sy is killed. Judith then tells Larry that Sy was fond of him and even wrote letters to his tenure board. Larry then has to pay for Sy's funeral. Larry then sees his neighbor's wife sunbathing naked and dreams of having sex with her, which turns into a nightmare. This all leads to Danny's Bar Mitzvah where the young man is high on marijuana. Without knowing, Larry is very proud of his son.
Finally, Larry's son gets into see the head Rabbi and the man's advice comes from the song "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane. He tells the young man to be a good boy, and that's it. Larry learns that it's looking good for his tenure approval, and he gets a bill for his brother Arthur's legal bills. Larry decides to give Clive a C- rather than an F, and he immediately receives a call from his doctor that he needs to see Larry immediately about his chest X-ray. In the final scene of the film, we see Danny outside of his Hebrew school as a tornado forms in the near distance while his teacher can't figure out which key will unlock the doors to the school to get the kids back inside.
