The Newton family is trying valiantly to manage life with the larger-than-life Beethoven, while Richard (Judge Reinhold) has become a work-at-home Dad and Beth (Julia Sweeney) heads back to the office. Richard's work and Beth's new work wardrobe are toast in the presence of the giant paws and non-stop drool of the well-meaning but destructively demonstrative Beethoven, and the kids (Joe Pichler and Michaela Gallo) desperately try to save the day with obedience training. The results are disastrous at first, but seem to miraculously take hold when a mix-up at the park switches Beethoven with his dead-ringer Michelangelo, an overly well-bred show dog from the upwardly-repressed Sedgewick family manor. Chandelier-rattling chaos at the Sedgewick's and a strangely unwelcome quiet at the Newton's create huge problems that only the big-hearted St. Bernhard can lick.