The story follows twin sisters Jane and Roxy Ryan, two twins with opposing personalities. Jane (Ashley Olsen) is an academic obsessed with order and planning, while Roxy (Mary-Kate Olsen) is a school truant who is only interested in rock music and her band, in which she is the drummer. The plot of the film happens over the course of one day. Jane's goal is to get to Columbia University in New York City in order to make a presentation at a scholarship competition. Roxy's goal is to skip school and attend the production of a Simple Plan music video, which also happens to be taking place in New York; however, she is followed by truancy officer Max Lomax (Eugene Levy). Due to a series of unfortunate incidents, the twins become involved with a piracy ring and must avoid both Lomax and this criminal gang and still make it to the University on time to make the speech. Through the series of misadventures, the twins come to realize that they have been allowing their relationship to drift apart and that they need to make greater effort to do things together.