Richard and Del bend over backwards to help an injured Caroline complete her work in time for a deadline, but things go from bad back to worse when medication dulls her pain - and her mind - so Richard and Del have to finish the strip for her.

Caroline is blown away by an opportunity to march in the Thanksgiving Day Parade - something she had dreamed of since high school mononucleosis kept her out of her marching band - when the giant balloon of her character Caroline escapes, injures parade marshal Florence Henderson, and threatens Staten Island.

Del's unexpectedly generous Christmas gift - a pair of ugly but valuable earrings - makes Caroline question his intentions. Richard paints a commissioned nude portrait of a beautiful woman (Udenio) who has a well-connected husband - well -connected in ""the Family,"" according to a frightened Remo. And Annie can't remember her New Year's Eve party at which she met a man who has since telephoned her to confirm their date.

Del asks Richard to join him on a double date with two gorgeous models; Caroline meets a man buying a sweater, but he turns out to be a paranoid bore.

Caroline, Richard and Annie are cast as extras in a film, leading to some surprising developments for its star (Benson) and director (Landis) when Annie turns out to be a Benson fanatic - and Richard becomes insanely jealous of the extra who is to kiss Caroline. Meanwhile, Del's Porsche is towed, and when he claims it from the DMV, he gets someone else's Gremlin instead. When he tracks down the Gremlin's owner, the poor man pleads for more time - he's got a hot date with a woman who was really only impressed by the Porsche.

Upset that Caroline's strip is not being merchandised aggressively, Del finally stands up to his father who promptly replaces Del as president with his sister, who in turn immediately fires him. Excited about forming his own company (with Charlie as his sole employee), Del assumes that Caroline will jump ship with him, particularly as he kept forgetting to renew her contract with his father's company. When Del calls his former cartoonist clients to a meeting in his crummy new office, they promptly desert him, leaving Caroline in the lurch how can she tell Del she values her income more than their friendship? Meanwhile, Richard is excited about being chosen to paint a mural for the city, even when he discovers he was the only applicant, but he's not prepared for the hostile reaction by the local denizens of the 'hood in question. He finally wins them round by agreeing to incorporate both Dennis Rodman and one hood's girlfriend into the mural, and even Annie is impressed at the unveiling

Annie's mother arrives unexpectedly and moves in with her, to her mounting dismay, but refuses to tell her why - then confesses to Caroline that she has left Annie's father. Annie demands a showdown with her father, who in turn confesses that this is no ordinary spat: he is in love for the first time in his life with another woman. Meanwhile, Richard takes a temporary job as a gift wrapper for Macy's, but his bad attitude gets him demoted to elf; and Del and Charley become convinced that their new assistant is a psycho killer, since all the people on her resume turn out to be dead.

When Caroline learns that an obscure upstate newspaper has dropped her syndicated strip, she drives up with a reluctant Richard to find out why. Naturally Richard's car breaks down, and the two wind up playing marriage counselor to the only local mechanic and his on-the-point-of-leaving wife. Meanwhile, Annie recognizes an obnoxious diner at Remo's as the theater critic who gave her the worst review of her career, and hatches an elaborate revenge plot that involves Del, Charlie, and a cab driver/actor with his own ax to grind.

Caroline's having a really bad hair week because her shower's been out of commission for several days and she can't get the super in her building to repair it. A deliveryman at Remo's suggests she hire his brother-in-law who specializes in persuasion; then an aghast Del and Richard explain to her that she has inadvertently hired a hit man. Trying to protect Mr. Tedescu, Caroline shadows him to head off the hit, which involves getting Richard glued to the pipes in the Elevator Lady's apartment. Meanwhile, Annie's agent wants to make her famous by publicizing her saving an audience member's life with CPR. The catch is that the man was with his mistress and doesn't want any publicity - especially when his wife assumes that Annie is the other woman.