Mid­dle child Aaron Gim­mel­man watch­es as his fam­i­ly goes from a mild-man­nered reform Jew­ish clan to hav­ing over a mil­lion dol­lars of stolen mon­ey stuffed in their RV’s cab­i­nets while being pur­sued by the FBI and loan sharks. But it wasn’t always like that. His father Bar­ry made a killing as a stock­bro­ker, his moth­er Judith loved her col­lec­tion of expen­sive hats, his old­er sis­ter Steph was obsessed with pop stars, and lit­tle sis­ter Jen­ny loved her stuffed pos­sum, Sey­mour.

After los­ing all their mon­ey in the Crash of 1987, the fam­i­ly starts steal­ing from con­ve­nience stores, but when they hit a bank, they real­ize the tal­ent they pos­sess. The mon­ey starts rolling in and brings the fam­i­ly clos­er togeth­er, where­as back at home, no one had any time for bond­ing due to their busy sched­ules. But Barry’s desire for more, more, more will take its toll on the Gim­mel­mans, and Aaron is forced into an impos­si­ble choice: turn against his father, or let his fam­i­ly fall apart. 

From Jer­sey, down to an Ortho­dox Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty in Flori­da where they hide out, and up to Cal­i­for­nia, The Great Gim­mel­mans goes on a mad­cap ride through the 1980s. It is filled with greed and love and the mean­ing of reli­gion and tra­di­tion until the walls of the RV and the feds start clos­ing in.