Joey lives with his mother. His father isn't around, he doesn't like school, he is bored and doesn't take orders from anyone. In other words he is a real little scamp. Being at one's wit's end, his mother decides to look for a "big brother" (sort of surrogate father) for Joey. At first this clumsy Arnie doesn't know how to handle Joey but after a while everything changes and not only for Joey ...

A grizzly bear escapes from a wildlife park and leaves a trail of destruction through the mountain village of Pine Lake. After sixteen-year-old Josh is accused of having released the bear, he goes after it.

Lieutenant Rick Hunter's girlfriend is murdered, and the main suspect is her ex-husband. But Hunter is soon convinced of a connection to another case.