John Cleese, at his harried best in this hilarious British comedy, plays a school headmaster obsessed with punctuality. His best laid plans to attend a headmasters' conference go wrong when he boards the wrong train. He turns back to find alternative means of transport, hijacking one of his pupils who is taking the afternoon off school in her father's car. As the journey descends into further chaos, the head begins to lose his schoolmasterly poise.