Plot summary

At a Southern California Wilderness Girls of America board meeting, the militaristic Velda Plendor (Betty Thomas) votes to disband the Beverly Hills chapter, Troop 332, since the scouts consistently under-perform. However, the organization's leader, Frances Temple (Audra Lindley), allows troop Beverly Hills one last chance with its new leader, Phyllis Nefler (Shelley Long).Unknown to the board, Phyllis is a shallow, self-indulgent, compulsive shopper with expensive tastes, and is determined to bankrupt her husband, Fred (Craig T. Nelson), before their pending divorce. Although the couple's adolescent daughter, Hannah (Jenny Lewis), is delighted that Phyllis is her new Wilderness Girls troop leader, Fred doubts that his wife, who once scrimped and saved to start his now-successful car muffler business, can prioritize camping over shopping. Despite their antagonism, Phyllis secretly longs for Fred, who has taken up residence in the guesthouse on the property.Sometime later, Phyllis attends a training session lead by Velda Plendor. Dressed in a custom-made designer uniform and heedless of the Wilderness Girls's staunch codes of humility, Phyllis provokes Velda's crusade to get rid of troop Beverly Hills.The next day, Phyllis meets each of the new wealthy and spoiled Beverly Hills girls of her new group who include Hannah, Claire Sprantz (Ami Foster), Chica Barnfell (Carla Gugino), Tessa DiBlasio (Heather Hopper), Emily Coleman (Kelli Martin), Tiffany Honigman (Emily Schulman), the sole African-American girl Jasmine Shakar (Tasha Scott), the daughter of a Southeast Asian dictator Lily Marcigan (Aquilina Soriano), and finally Hannah Nefler (Jenny Lewis). Phyllis takes the girls to a campsite beneath the Hollywood sign, chauffeured in limousines. During a rainstorm, Phyllis relocates the girls to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where they share ghost stories around the fireplace.The next morning, Velda and her long-suffering sidekick, Annie Herman (Mary Gross), arrive at the hotel to berate Phyllis, claiming she has debased their wholesome organization. Although Velma fires Phyllis, the indomitable Beverly Hills troop leader later attends the Annual Wilderness Craft Day convention and leads her girls in a fashion show, but they are laughed offstage. Meanwhile, Velda secretly orders Anne to spy on troop Beverly Hills with a hidden camera, posing as an assistant leader.At the next troop meeting, Hannah and the other girls confess their discontent. In response, Phyllis promises to train the girls how to survive the "wilderness" of Beverly Hills and to earn Wilderness Girls patches based on their accomplishments. Responding to the "Grooming," "Create a Patch", "Dance," and "Community Service" mandates of the Wilderness Girls manual, Phyllis treats the young ladies to spa treatments, teaches them to appraise diamonds, leads them in dance moves, arranges cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training with a handsome police officer, and lets them entertain residents at a retirement home.Sometime later, Phyllis brings the troop to her divorce hearing to expose them to the U.S. legal system, and is devastated to learn that Fred is considering remarriage. The next day, Phyllis announces that the girls broke a record by earning 36 patches in three weeks, and plans a celebration aboard a dockside yacht. There, Hannah is decorated with her special "Sushi Appreciation" patch with parents Phyllis and Fred standing proudly on either side, but when they bend to kiss their daughter, Hannah ducks, hoping the soon-to-be divorcees will kiss each other. In the melee, Fred's fiancee, Lisa falls off the yacht.Sometime later, Velda proudly exhibits a slideshow of Annie's secret photographs to Frances, hoping to have troop Beverly Hills disbanded for good, while she lies and manipulates each event happening in each photo in a negative away. However, all Velda and Annie's spying has done is show Frances that while Phyllis may be unusual, she has taken an active interest in these girls and is trying to help them learn to survive their personal environment rather than the wilderness. In response, Velda orders Annie to move into the Nefler estate to uncover incriminating evidence, but Annie only witnesses Phyllis' kindness. Troop Beverly Hills can gain recognition from the regional council by passing a series of tests at an upcoming Jamboree. In order to qualify, the troop needs to sell 1,000 boxes of cookies. To prevent this, Velda one-ups Troop Beverly Hills by selling cookies in their own neighborhood. Seeing this, Annie sides with Phyllis and offers her abilities and insider knowledge to the girls. Despite her unusual nature, Phyllis is beginning to learn at this point; for example, when her Hollywood friends ask her if they should solve the problem by buying the cookies, Phyllis points out that them doing that misses the entire point about building community-they may well end up going the glamour route to sell the cookies, but it's still a legitimate attempt to do it meaningfully, at least for Beverly Hills. The Troop's sales drive sells 4,732 boxes, more than enough to qualify for the Jamboree.In celebration, Phyllis invites Velda to a black tie gala. When Fred shows up unexpectedly, he compliments his wife for becoming troop leader of the year, and notices she has reverted to the virtuous girl he fell in love with. As Fred announces that his engagement to Vicki has ended, Phyllis suspects he wants to renew their vows, but instead he asks for joint custody of Hannah, and the distressed Phyllis falls into the pool.Later, Velda berates Phyllis and orders her to take the Wilderness Jamboree seriously. Depressed at the loss of her husband, Phyllis drowns her sorrows in Evian bottled water and announces her resignation from troop Beverly Hills. However, the girls insist she has been a positive role model, and beg her to stay. Just then, Fred arrives with Hannah, and encourages Phyllis to lead the girls to victory at the jamboree.Sometime later, troop Beverly Hills arrives at the jamboree campsite in convertible Rolls Royces, ready to outperform the Culver City girls. As the teams race off on their first challenge, Velda fires Annie, who has defected and become Phyllis' confidante, and the girls of troop Beverly Hills are left to their own devices. Meanwhile, the Culver City red-feathers sabotage troop Beverly Hills and Phyllis loses her walkie-talkie after running away from a snake. Although it appears the red-feathers will win, troop Beverly Hills comes in first, sprinting away from a skunk.The next day, Velda takes over as the red-feathers' leader and secretly severs the cords of a rope bridge. When Phyllis finds the collapsed bridge, she cries that the game is lost, but Hannah points out a nearby fallen tree that also crosses the ravine. Phyllis totters across the trunk so she can refasten the rope bridge. However, she slips and Hannah hurries to help her mother. Although the girl's foot gets stuck, Phyllis dislodges her and they successfully cross the gorge.Watching through binoculars, Velda realizes troop Beverly Hills has repaired the bridge and decides to lead her group on a dangerous short cut. Eager to get to the finish line, Velda trips and breaks her ankle, but the Culver City girls, including Velda's own daughter, leave their leader behind and march toward the finish line. Meanwhile, troop Beverly Hills stops to help Velda, but the cantankerous woman refuses to advise them of a shortcut, despite her injury, because she is intent on the red-feathers' victory. Using their designer backpacks to create a makeshift stretcher, the girls drag Velda to the finish line. Although Culver City arrives first, they are disqualified because they are devoid of their leader. Just then, troop Beverly Hills crosses the finish line and are awarded the championship trophy. As Velda is fired from the organization, the parents celebrate their daughters' victory. Fred kisses Phyllis, declares his love, and they get back together.The next year, Troop Beverly Hills is the designated Poster Troop, and while Velda is forced to take a job at Kmart after her actions at the Jamboree made her virtually unemployable.