- Identical twins separated at birth: One a prominent psychiatrist; the other a life long mental patient. When the doctor gets called to his brother's institution, fate intervenes and the brothers swap places.
- The animated opening credits sequence shows that twin babies were left at the Philbrook Orphanage. But one of the babies behaves strangely so he gets sent to the Fitzgerald Mental Health Facility.
In the present day, Dr. Fred Mulberry is a successful psychiatrist who lives in his guest house because his marriage to cute but uptight Lorna isn't going so well. His teenage daughter Rose is typical of girls her age. His son Freddie is a science nerd.
Lorna is trying to start a business selling granola and one of her many demands of Fred, in addition to taking the kids to school, is to get everything on the list from the natural foods store.
Fred's boss Mr. Philbrook is running for governor and has a public image as a Christian family man, yet he surrounds himself with sexy women in clothing inappropriate for a professional workplace. And he demands that Fred stop by Fitzgerald to sign papers that prevent Dolores from getting out on her 18th birthday.
Ted fantasizes about doing many different types of jobs, some of which he really gets to do, and he is good friends with Dolores. But he would really like to leave this place.
Through an improbable series of circumstances that includes a cute but bubble-headed temp receptionist, Fred ends up having to change clothes while he is at Fitzgerald. This happens in the same locker room where his brother Ted, desperately in need of a rest room, goes to do his business. Ted sees Fred's clothes and his wallet and the guy on the driver's license looks just like him. He can escape. The ditzy receptionist questions nothing, and the fun begins. Nurse Nancy demands that Ted come out of that locker room and when Fred won't cooperate, she sends for the big mean orderlies John and Richard. Fred protests but the people who work at the place won't believe him, since it must be another one of Ted's fantasies. Amazingly, because he uses a smartphone and never has to remember numbers, he can't give them a number to call to check out his story.
Ted is incredibly lucky. While he doesn't know how to drive, Fred's minivan has GPS with a sweet female voice, and wherever he wants to go it will take him there. Including the natural foods store, where Colin works. Colin would really like to date Rose, though Rose likes the rebellious Dylan. Ted sees no problem and invites Colin over.
The family sees something is seriously wrong with Fred, but they never once question whether that is actually Fred. After a while, though, he is getting along fine with the family and they really seem to like him, as if something has changed about his attitude. He's actually fun.
Meanwhile, Fred must deal with a group of quirky characters, some of whom are capable of plotting an escape, as well as medical professionals who won't believe his story and keep punishing him for his behavior. Administrator Mr. Greene especially hates the idea of his bothering Dolores. Fred does have an opportunity to find out the truth about his boss, because of his brother's many jobs.
So will the brothers ever get their real identities back? Does Ted even need to? Well, of course he will, since he's not really capable of functioning in the outside world. And Fred really wants to go back outside.
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