When London's National Gallery is asked to send their finest scholar to oversee the unveiling of the renowned painting, Whistler's Mother, in California, they instead send their most inept and detested employee, in a desperate attempt to get him out of their lives. That employee is Mr. Bean - the master of disaster!

Within days of his arrival, Mr. Bean destroys virtually everything he comes into contact with, be it the career and marriage of his host or America's greatest painting. Forget volcanoes and alien invasions - horror now has a human face.