The Bakers live in a small Illinois town where Tom coaches the local collate football team. The family's day-to-day life is marked by equal parts love and chaospet-frog-landing-in-the-breakfast eggs type of chaos.

When Tom is offered his dream job coaching a squad at a large university, he and Kate uproot the family, much to the displeasure of all 12 children. At the same time, Kate learns that her memoirs are about to be published. Her agent whisks her away to New York to promote the book, leaving Tom home alone to handle the increasingly, as well as his demanding new job.

With all hell breaking loose at home, Kate on the road, and Tom's job on the line, the Baker family ultimately chooses not to have it all, but to love what they do have.

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN stars Steve Martin as over-extended dad Tom Baker and Bonnie Hunt as Kate, the mom who has mastered the art of daily emergency management. Also starring is Tom Welling as eldest son Charlie, Hilary Duff as sassy teenage daughter Lorraine, and Piper Perabo as Nora, the oldest of the dozen and the first to leave the nest.