Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

When Mrs. Crandell (Concetta Tomei) goes on a summer vacation to Australia, she leaves her 5 kids--Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate), Kenny (Keith Coogan), Zach (the late Christopher Pettiet), Melissa (Danielle Harris), and Walter (Robert Hy Gorman)--in the care of a cruel elderly babysitter, Mrs. Sturak (Eda Reiss Merin). When Mrs. Sturak dies, the kids load her body in a trunk and deposit the trunk on the front step of the local funeral home. The kids are ecstatic because they think that with the big wad of cash their mom has left behind, they can have a summer of consumer madness. But when they discover that the money has been buried with Mrs. Sturak, the kids have to fend for themselves to make ends meet. 17-year-old Sue Ellen tries working at a fast-food restaurant, but she can't stand the grease, so she puts together a false resume, poses as a twenty-something, and applies for a receptionist job at a garment-manufacturing company. The company's vice president, Rose Lindsey (Joanna Cassidy), is so impressed by her resume that she hires her on the spot as her executive assistant. Her deception looks to be working out: Sue Ellen manages to hold off office ladykiller Gus (John Getz), avoids exposure by the embittered receptionist Carolyn (Jayne Brook), borrows money from the company's petty-cash box for household incidentals, and continues a relationship with restaurant employee Bryan (Josh Charles), who just happens to be the receptionist's brother. But suddenly, the garment firm is set to go under, and Sue Ellen must use her teen fashion sense to save the company and her job. And she must get her siblings involved.