Man of the House

On his father's birthday, Wyatt Perkins, his sister Bridget, and their mom Carla put on their fanciest clothes - tie and all, despite Wyatt's protests - for a video call with Dad, a Marine deployed seven thousand miles away. They surprise him with a cake, and he playfully "blows out" the candles from across the world. But the celebration is cut short: his colonel has given him only one minute before the unit moves out. There's no time for Bridget's card or the birthday song, and when Mom mentions the water heater's pilot light is out, Dad says Wyatt can figure it out - "he's your man." Then he's gone.

Wyatt takes those words to heart. Soon he's spending whole afternoons on how-to websites, secretly trying to repair the family's broken washing machine and asking to borrow propane torches, convinced that plumbers are overpriced and that half of them use giant macaroni noodles for pipes. His plan backfires when the washer floods the laundry room with soap and water and Mom slips and falls. She isn't hurt, but she is firm: the next time something breaks, Wyatt needs to tell her instead of fixing it himself, because the internet in a kid's hands can be as dangerous as a torch in an arsonist's.

Meanwhile, Wyatt's friend Matthew Parker seems eager to grow up too. He offers to pay the water bill - even to sign his dad's name on the check, until his mom explains that's called forgery - and he sulks when his father, David, won't let him help repair the car's fuel pump. David decides the moment has come for his long-planned "becoming a man workshop," a camping trip full of wise instruction and manly challenges. Wyatt begs to come along, and Matthew agrees to ask.

At the campsite, David builds his lessons around a Bible verse from 1 Corinthians: be watchful, stand firm, act like men, be strong, and do everything in love. The boys hold logs over their heads to practice standing firm while bugs rain down on them; Wyatt gamely declares, "The beetle of distraction will not defeat me," though a roach in his ear finally proves too much. On a hike, they fill their backpacks with rocks, little by little, so they can empty them at the top of the mountain like burdens laid down at the feet of Jesus. Wyatt throws himself into every challenge, taking notes so he won't end up only three-quarters of a man - and insisting that swimming in the nearby lake is for swimmers and fish, not men.

That night, David notices Matthew seems less excited than Wyatt, and Matthew finally admits the truth: he just wanted to have fun with his dad. He only tried doing grown-up things because Wyatt's family seemed to trust Wyatt with them, and he wanted to know his dad trusted him too. David assures him that he does - and that he isn't finished with Matthew being a kid, either. Relieved, Matthew asks if for now he can simply hang out with his dad, and they play I Spy while Wyatt snores nearby. But at one in the morning, David wakes to find Wyatt desperately rubbing sticks together to restart the campfire, his hands bleeding, because his dad could do it and would want him to do it too. David gently stops him, bandages his hands, and offers to build the fire together.

Back home, Mom discovers a recorded video call from two days earlier that explains everything: Dad had privately told Wyatt to be the man of the house and take care of his mom and sister. After she reaches her husband, Dad calls Wyatt to set things right. He never meant to put the weight of a father's role on a boy's shoulders - he only wants Wyatt to help his mom whenever she asks. "You'll be an adult the rest of your life," he reminds him, so Wyatt should enjoy being a kid now, though Dad is proud of how he stepped up. Soon after, Wyatt finds David and Matthew building an adjustable putting green - a project made for using manly tools and then playing like little kids - and happily joins in, hammer in hand, while father and son tease Matthew about his crooked bangs.