Johnnie Crosswell, a Park Service maintenance worker on St. John and former Marine, faces a world of trouble. Cudlow, his best friend and homeless billionaire, has turned insane after a devastating heartbreak, taking on the persona of a garden gnome and clinging to his friend, Stumpy, a wild iguana. Yet, despite his friend's distress, Johnnie notices Cud is 'still in there' and vows to help him.
Distrustful of psychiatric hospitals after his own traumatic brain injury and mood struggles, Johnnie convinces Cud's grandson, Jackson, to try things his way, insisting Cud should visit his own psychiatrist in Miami.
Complicating the matter, Jackson needs medical proxy, forcing him to contact his estranged father Elson, Cudlow's true next of kin. Elson despises his father, using the opportunity to employ a skeevy lawyer to wrest control of the family empire.
Meanwhile, Ranger Merv, plagued by gambling debt, secretly follows Johnnie to Miami to steal Stumpy, his reptile partner in crime, hoping to pilfer valuables from unsuspecting wealthy Miami tourists.
Things take a turn when Cudlow wanders away from the hospital chasing invisible floating "cookie people" and becomes lost on the streets of Miami. An ill-gotten video of Cud's insane ravings at the hospital clinches the matter. A judge will decide if Elson will be granted the power to institutionalize his father indefinitely.
With a man-hunt in progress, can Johnnie locate Cudlow first and discover the root of Cud's breakdown? Or will he lose his best friend forever to the realm of the whispering cookies?
