In a desperate bid to revive his abysmal peacetime approval rating, the president of the United States (Alan Alda) agrees to a scheme proposed by corrupt cabinet member Stu Smiley (Kevin Pollak) and launches a top-secret propaganda campaign to vilify Canada. As U.S. citizens get caught up in a xenophobic hysteria, a group of residents of Niagara, N.Y., wielding machine guns, organize a vigilante invasion that could trigger a real war with America's gentle neighbor to the north.