Widow Kate Bradley and her three daughters run the Shady Rest Hotel on the outskirts of Hooterville. City folk escape from hectic urban life with brief stays in the rural village where nothing much ever happens. Floyd and Charley make regular runs in the Hooterville Cannonball, an ancient steam train that is still the town's chief public transportation to Drucker's General Store. And old Uncle Joe? He's a-movin' kinda slow