Confidence Builder

Roxy and Jake come across a strange beast, and they convince a hesitant Sheila to let them keep it as a pet. Mistakenly thinking that it's a dog, Sheila entrusts them with feeding and walking "Beasty," who's actually a rodent that despises food and exercise. Meanwhile, Norm's inability to solve the canyon's power problem begins to affect his manly confidence until he's struck by a brilliant plan that might solve the problem and gain him some much-needed respect. With Earl and an unhelpful Vernon at his side, Norm sets out to build a hydroelectric dam, but he's crippled by an emerging heart condition. Jake and Roxy seek out Pete and Carol for medical advice, who then turn to Sid to test out random medicines in a search for a cure. Once Sheila discovers that Jake and Roxy have "neglected" Beasty, she takes it upon herself to care for him (it?), causing poor Beasty to drag its lethargic body out of the canyon towards freedom. Upon reaching the road, Beasty is picked up by another unsuspecting family, whose RV accidentally rolls into the canyon, conveniently wedging itself in Norm's dam, restoring both power and Norm's confidence in his own abilities.

Norm Wendell, Vernon Wendell, Sheila Wendell, Roxy Wendell, Jake Wendell, Emily Butane, Colton Steel, Sid Butane, Pete, Earl, Royce Manderbelt, Sarah, Frida, Mace Butane, Carol, Reginald Manderbelt, The Widow, Sly Butane, Beverly Manderbelt, Butch Butane, Pristine Manderbelt, Nalappat, Dummy

The Wendell family doesn't usually do too much together; the parents work a lot, and the kids have developed their own lives. This year however, Norm, the Wendell patriarch, has decided to schedule a family vacation. He rents a van and a camper trailer, forces everyone inside, and the family sets off on a week of heavily-scheduled fun.

With all four Wendells in a confined space, motoring between tourist attractions, scenic vistas and the occasional point of interest, the trip turns out to be a disaster - in fact, an actual disaster - Norm accidentally drives the van over a cliff!

The van plummets 2 miles straight down into a canyon. When the Wendells stumble out, they realize that not only are they alive, but also that they are not alone. The same fate has befallen several others before them, and the Wendells are just the newest residents of a community of everyone else that's driven, cycled, sky-dived, or even crashed their NASA landing capsule there.

So, the Wendells live in their camper trailer in the heart of a shanty town of all the other crashed vehicles, scattered wherever gravity set them down. Their neighbors include an astronaut and his chimp companion, a wealthy family (who live in the summer house they were transporting), a has-been British punk rocker and many more. All these characters hope to escape, but until one of their plans actually work, they make up this impromptu community known only as "Crash Canyon". And who knows who's gonna drop in next?!