故事描述一名开音像店的亿万富翁Johnny Rose(Eugene Levy)和他的肥皂剧明星妻子Moira(Catherine O’Hara)、嬉皮士儿子David(Daniel Levy)、交际花女儿Alexis(Annie Murphy)在一夜之间破产。这家人不得不离开已经习惯了的奢华生活,回到乡下去「从零开始」。好在他们还有一点私人领地:当年他们抱着好玩的心态在最偏僻的角落里买下一座几乎没有人烟的小镇(镇名即本剧标题「施米特湾」),现在这里成了他们仅存的落脚点。他们必须尽快适应新的贫穷生活,找到家庭的真谛……但这个穷乡僻壤的地方让他们感觉「限制」太多!With David's proposition to Stevie on the belief that the Roses will finally be leaving Schitt's Creek for good then finding out that the sale of the town doesn't go through, David, in emotional turmoil, steals Roland's truck and goes missing, now for three days. While there are some people, seemingly including Stevie, who are truly concerned for David and making sure that he is all right, some people have other things on their mind. Roland is more concerned about the state of his truck. Moira is concerned about how she believes David is supporting himself at her expense. And Alexis is focused on making her and David's twin beds into one king sized bed for herself, while being in a moral conundrum of having had sex with Mutt, with who she wants to do it with again, but technically being engaged to Ted. On the other end, if David is alive, he will be exerting his "Davidness" on any poor sole who may have tried to help him.