When Jolene (Celia Weston), the partner of a cross-country truck driver, quits her job in Mel's Diner, she creates a crisis in the ladies' room but ends up with a job as the new waitress, despite Mel's (Vic Tayback) reservations.
Mel (Vic Tayback) hires guard dogs to protect his diner, and everyone gets trapped there overnight.
After losing customers to a competitor who's giving away cash prizes, Mel (Vic Tayback) stages his own contest offering $3,000 to the winner. Mel thinks he has the game rigged, but when he finds out that's not so, he becomes frantic.
When Mel (Vic Tayback) and the girls suspect the diner may be the location of a buried treasure, they tear the place apart searching for the money.
Under pressure from everyone including his mother (Martha Raye), Mel (Vic Tayback) goes into a funk and refuses to leave his apartment.