Plot Summary

After surviving the Wally World expedition in Vacation (1983), the Griswolds embark on a fascinating, worry-free, all-expenses-paid trip to cosmopolitan Europe, courtesy of the popular TV game show, Pig in a Poke. This time, the merry holidaymaker, Clark Griswold, his wife, Ellen, and their teenage children, Audrey and Rusty, find themselves in a race against the clock, trying to see as many sights as possible in London, Paris, Germany, and Rome. Once more, disaster follows, as British driving idiosyncrasies, unforgivable fashion crimes in the City of Lights, a daunting language barrier in a Bavarian village, and a brush with the law in Rome stand in the way of happiness. Can the Griswolds survive the European Vacation?—Nick Riganas