In Wabasha, Minnesota, retirees John Gustafson and Max Goldman are feuding next-door
neighbors. Living
alone, they spend their time ice fishing, trading insults, and pulling cruel practical
jokes on each
other, including John leaving a dead fish in Max's truck.
Their rivalry irritates their friend Chuck, owner of the town bait shop, and Max's son
Jacob, who is
running for mayor. Dodging the attempts of IRS Agent Elliot Snyder to collect a serious
debt, John
supports his daughter Melanie when she separates from her husband Mike, whom John
dislikes.
John and Max both find themselves attracted to Ariel Truax, a free-spirited English
professor who moves
in across the street. Chuck has Thanksgiving dinner with Ariel, prompting John and Max
to compete for
her affections. Chuck dies, and Max discovers John's IRS debt. John spends time with
Ariel, revealing
that he and Max used to be childhood friends.
John and Ariel have sex – his first time since 1978 – and a jealous Max drives John's
fishing shanty
onto thin ice, which John narrowly escapes. He confronts Max, and the source of their
animosity is
revealed: Max resents John for marrying Max's high school sweetheart. John explains she
was unfaithful
and Max was happier with the woman he did marry, but Max reminds John that he will have
nothing to offer
Ariel once the IRS takes his house.
With this on his mind, John ends his relationship with Ariel. Ariel then gives John
advice, warning him
that he will regret the risks he did not take in life.
Jacob is elected mayor, and Max continues courting Ariel. On Christmas, Melanie comes to
visit and John
is upset to learn she has reconciled with Mike. Giving Melanie the same warning Ariel
gave him, he warns
that she will regret the risks she did not take in life, and then John leaves for the
local bar. At
Melanie's request, Jacob asks Max to settle things with John, but the fathers are unable
to mend their
dispute and John storms out of the bar. Max soon follows and finds John in the snow,
having suffered a
heart attack. At the hospital, Max checks in by declaring he is John's friend. He tells
Ariel what
happened, and she reconciles with John as he recovers.
Max tries to resolve John's debt, but the unsympathetic Agent Snyder prepares to sell
John's house and
possessions. Barricading the house, Max leaves a fish in Snyder's car and buries him in
snow, while
Jacob manages to temporarily block the property's seizure. Spring arrives, and John and
Ariel get
married. As a wedding gift, Max informs John that he and Jacob have paid off the debt.
The newlyweds
drive off, but not before John finds Max has left a fish in the wedding limo car. Max
leaves to find a
date of his own, as Jacob and an officially divorced Melanie begin a new romance with
each other.