<P> Chicagoan Chester "Chet" Ripley, his wife, Connie, and their two sons, Buckley "Buck" and Ben, are on vacation at a lake resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin during the summer . All is going as planned until Connie's sister, Kate, Kate's investment broker husband, Roman Craig, and their twin daughters, Mara and Cara, crash the vacation . </P> <P> Ghost stories at the family BBQ include one of a man - eating grizzly bear that Chet met face - to - face when he was younger . Chet says that while he and Connie were honeymooning at the same lake, he was attacked by a giant grizzly bear . When he fired at it with a shotgun, the buckshot shaved the hair off the top of the bear's head and from that day on, it was known as the "Bald - Headed Bear" of Clare County . </P> <P> After Roman pulls Chet around the lake on an impromptu water ski ride with his rented speedboat, tensions between the families erupt . Chet is ready to pack up and go home, even as his teenage son Buck tries to romance a local girl, Cammie . The budding romance goes well until Chet is challenged to eat the Old 96'er (a 96 - ounce steak) at a family dinner which causes Buck to break the date . Buck tries to apologize to Cammie for being late, but Cammie refuses to speak to him . </P> <P> Connie and Kate bond at a local bar when the conversation drifts to Kate's challenges of being wealthy . Later, just at the peak of tension between families, it emerges that Roman has made a bad investment and is broke . He has not told Kate and was planning to hit up Chet for the cash . </P>

Where did the movie the great outdoors take place