An elderly couple, both diagnosed with serious illnesses, decide to live their last days on the road instead of in a hospital. 

Ella (Helen Mirren) has incurable cancer. Her husband John (Donald Sutherland), a former high school English professor, is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Ella opts to tune up the vintage Winnebago they've dubbed "The Leisure Seeker" and hit the highway, traveling from Boston to Florida. She lets John, who's not always sure what they're doing or where they're going, drive, but she assures him they're on a vacation.

They stop at diners and camp at trailer sites, on their way to Key West to visit the house where Ernest Hemingway — one of John's favorite writers — once lived.