Bobby looks for an acting job before his self-imposed deadline arrives.

Tony mourns the death of his goldfish, which he left in Bobby's care.

Louie vows to change his ways if the Lord sees him through an operation.

The cabbies are wined and dined by a film company looking for ideas for a movie they are making about taxi drivers.

Louie takes out a female vending-machine mechanic--and then brags about their sexual adventures.

The cabbies are disturbed by Alex's nonchalance when confronted with the news of his father's heart attack.

The drivers try to make a cabbie out of a refugee from the '60s who hasn't quite put his life together.

Alex and Louie compete to see who can haul in the most money during an eight-hour tour on the streets.

Tony faces a bout with a champ who has dedicated his fight to a disabled youth.

Tony wants to adopt a boy who would rather live with a wealthy couple.

To settle the cabbies' strike, Elaine agrees to date Louie.

Tony's sister, Monica, has returned to New York after her divorce, and Tony has set her up on a date with Alex, with hopes that they will fall in love. However, while Monica waits for Alex in the garage, she gets to talking to Jim and they hit it off famously. They begin dating, but Tony is not supportive of the relationship and asks Jim not to see her anymore. However, Tony catches Jim at Monica's apartment when he stops by for a visit. Tony is angered that they are seeing each other despite his objections and is ready to toss Jim out (literally), when Monica tells him off about his immaturity and trying to control her life. Tony then sees the light, apologizes, and seems resigned to the new relationship.

Bobby is fed up after losing an acting gig to an inferior actor with the right look, which he explains to be like Tony. Tony decides he wants to capitalize on this and give acting a try, and asks Bobby to be his manager. Reluctantly, Bobby agrees and soon, despite a terrible audition, Tony gets a major role in a movie. Bobby is soon regretting his decision to take Tony under his wing, though, since he's resentful that Tony (whose acting is not improving, despite Bobby's coaching) could get a part so easily. Bobby feels vinidicated, however, when Tony is eventually cut from the film because of his lack of skills.

When Latka's grandmother dies, he is pleased that she has left him her famous cookie recipe, complete with a supply of the secret ingredients. He bakes up some for the cabbies to enjoy, but the cabbies don't enjoy them. Nonetheless, Latka begins his own cookie business. In the days to come, the cabbies find that they are indeed starting to inexplicably like the cookies, and are also unusually happy and energetic. When Jim samples one, he determines that the secret ingredient is cocaine—which accounts for why everyone's behavior. Upon learning this, Alex visits Latka (busy baking cookies to fill supermarket orders) to tell him the bad news. Latka is noticeably high from the cookies, and hallucinates that Famous Amos tells him to do whatever it takes to be successful. Although Latka can no longer sell the drugged cookies, he is excited at the taste of capitalism because it means he's now a true American.

Louie, driving a cab in order to give pointers to a new driver, accidentally runs into an old lady pedestrian. Louie starts catering to the old lady, in the hopes of avoiding being sued, but soon learns she is still going to sue him for a million dollars. Alex notices that the old lady looks familiar, and recognizes her as a con artist, who pulls scams like this on cab drivers all the time (faking injuries in order to sue them). Alex makes a deal with Louie to find some of her previous victims to testify against her, if Louie agrees to treat Alex with more respect. It turns out, however, that this time, the woman really has broken her leg this time, and is indeed confined to a wheelchair legitimately (she tells this to her lawyer without any of the gang around). At the trial, Alex shows up alone because he couldn't get anyone to testify in Louie's behalf, so Louie gets a bright idea. In an attempt to prove that the woman is faking an injury, in front of the court, Louie pushes he

Bobby, who is appearing in a one man play, is fired up about a ruthless theater critic who has been writing scathing reviews. Bobby writes an angry letter to the critic, but throws it away without sending it, having already felt better for venting his anger. Predictably, Louie fishes it out of the trash and mails it, and it gets printed in the newspaper. Bobby is soon getting cheers from actors all over the city, but gets worried when he learns that the critic himself is going to be at Bobby's play. After the play, the critic finds Bobby and hands him a wonderful review of his performance. Bobby is overcome until the critic says he's not going to print it, because rather than a scathing review which would seem like sour grapes or a good review that would boost his career, not submitting a review will leave Bobby in obscurity and the critic will have his vengeance.

Tony becomes the manager of a promising young heavyweight boxer at his gym, but after the boxer wins a major fight, the ""syndicate"" (which turns out to be some doctors looking for an investment, rather than the mob) makes Tony an offer he can't refuse and takes over the boxer's management.

Louie becomes scared of nuclear war after hearing someone talk on Donahue, and he sets up a bomb shelter in the garage. He schedules a weekend drill with Jeff and Tony in tow, but finds he's too ""soft"" to survive if war really broke out, since he is unwilling to throw Jim (who has stowed away in a radiation suit) out of the shelter.

Alex runs into his ex-wife, Phyllis, eating alone at a restaurant, and when she tries to reach out to him, he gently tells her he's not interested. Nonetheless, Phyllis shows the next day at the garage to find Alex, but he's out driving. Louie manages to arrange a date with Phyllis, who is particularly vulnerable, having just gone through a divorce. When Alex learns of this (after Louie tries to rub it in), Alex becomes concerned about the depths that Phyllis has sunk to and goes to her hotel to talk. Too late- Louie has already arrived and has already tried to seduce Phyllis, much to her disgust. Alex then takes Phyllis out to dinner, leaving Louie naked in Phyllis' hotel room.

After Jim's home is destroyed by a wrecking ball, he stays with Louie, much to Louie's dismay after Jim declares him his ""best buddy."" Jim soon burns Louie's apartment after a cooking accident, though. Initially, Louie is angry, but sees an opportunity to make some money, when he learns that Jim gets a blank check from his wealthy father to reimburse Louie for his losses. Louie is not sure how much to ask for, though, since Jim says he has to call his father to okay the amount. After much lamenting over the amount, Louie settles on about $30,000 and Jim's dad okays it. Louie is overjoyed until he learns that Jim's dad was expecting the amount to be more like $200,000.

Latka is sent to rescue a female cabbie who is stranded in a snowstorm, but he breaks down as he reaches her. The two are freezing in her cab and decide to make love in order to avoid freezing to death. They survive and are rescued but Latka feels tremendous guilt and Simka realizes he's been unfaithful (despite the circumstances) before he can even tell her. Latka and Simka seek the guidance of their minister, who says to set things right, Simka must sleep with someone Latka works with. (Continued in part two)

Louie lets Jeff, his assistant dispatcher, take the rap for skimming money from the company (that Louie is actually responsible for), assuring Jeff that he'll smooth everything over. Louie overdoes it when he reprimands Jeff in front of the garage owner, though, and the owner not only fires Jeff but has him arrested. Louie eventually tells the owner the truth before Alex has a chance to turn him in, but the owner thinks that Louie is only doing it to protect Jeff. The owner decides as a favor to Louie to drop the charges against Jeff and hire him back, so Louie's crime ends up going unpunished despite his good intentions.

Alex, who loves the theater, takes a part time job as a gofer for a young producer and director, but soon feels mistreated by his younger bosses. Louie, spying on Alex at his new job, spots Alex being humiliated and uncharacteristically does not make fun of him; rather, he tries to convince Alex to stand up for himself and tell the director off. Alex is considering this when the director suddenly has a change of heart and apologizes for mistreating Alex and ignoring one of his earlier suggestions. As a result, Alex regains his dignity.

Louie gets a call from Emily, who jilted him in an earlier episode, who is drunk and drugged and wants to meet him at a nearby bar. Louie decides to go over there to throw a drink in her face and reject her, therefore getting the last laugh. However, when he gets to the bar, Emily serenades him and has Louie eating out of her hands. The next morning, she is shocked to see him wake up next to her, but Louie somehow convinces her that they are meant for each other. They begin a relationship but it becomes evident that Louie has become Emily's slave and he's starting to hate himself for it. Eventually she comes to a realization of what she's doing to him and breaks it off with Louie, who is relieved, but he finally exacts revenge by throwing orange juice in her face.

Zena comes to the garage and announces she's getting married and asks the gang to let Louie know that she wants to speak with him. After telling Louie, he becomes convinced that she wants to get back together, and he meets her for dinner. Louie is crushed when she tells him she's getting married and wants him to attend, and he reacts very insultingly toward her. The rest of the gang goes to the wedding when Louie refuses, but afterwards he regrets not going and wishing her well, so he crashes his way on to their cruise ship (about to leave on their honeymoon). Zena and her husband are not happy to see Louie and before he can wish them well, Louie has a change of heart and starts choking the husband. After composing himself, however, he wishes them well, and Zena seems touched.

Alex's ex-wife, Phyllis, depressed and lonely, comes to see Alex, who takes pity on her and includes her in his holiday plans. This turns ugly, when she manages to bring the whole gang down with her self-pity. Her Christmas present to Alex is that she won't bug him for New Year's, which turns out to be the best gift she could give him.

Louie decides to buy a luxury co-op apartment with some help on the down payment from the newly wealthy Jim. Unfortunately, Louie first has to convince a snooty co-op board that he is right for their building (as he comes in, they are rejecting actress Penny Marshall because they don't approve of the actress lifestyle). Bringing Alex for support, Louie has his work cut out for him when he sees that the board is bigoted. Alex goes on a tirade against their discriminatory process, and the board accepts Louie just to spite Alex.

Alex takes ownership of his old dog, Buddy, who has been living at his sister's place in the country. Buddy is now 19 and Alex wants to spend as much time with him as possible. The dog is lovable but at his advanced age, requires constant care, and Alex soon is taking Buddy with him everywhere including the cab. The gang soon sees that Buddy is not doing very well and gently suggest that Alex consider putting him to sleep, but Alex refuses. Jim suggests that Alex get Buddy to do his old trick (playing dead) to determine his wellness. Buddy does the trick successfully, although gives the gang a scare when he doesn't get up right away and they really think he may be dead (thankfully, he turns out to be okay). However, the next time the gang sees Alex, he doesn't have Buddy with him, and Alex says that he had to take Buddy to the vet where he died. Louie ushers everyone out of the garage so Alex can grieve alone. With everyone gone, the stoic Alex cries as the episode ends.

When Elaine's son, Jason, watched Tony coaching youth boxing, he wants to get involved. Alex and Tony talk Elaine into letting Jason box, despite her better judgement. In Jason's first bout, he gets knocked out by the first punch and Elaine holds Alex responsible. Fortunately, Elaine forgives Alex eventually and Jason doesn't want to box again.

Diane, an old friend of Jim's comes to the garage looking for Jim, and Alex takes a liking to her. Alex makes some less than flattering remarks about Jim, not realizing that she and Jim have begun a romantic relationship. When Jim confronts Alex about the things he said, Alex justifies his comments with examples of crazy things that Jim has done. Jim is touched that Alex remembered all those things about him and all is well.

Elaine and her beau share butterflies over his meeting her children.

Jim buys the cabbies' hangout, oblivious to the fact that no one else hangs out there.

Jim wants the cabbies to experience the joy of giving, so he hands each of them $1000 to give away.

Simka faces deportation if she puts off another immigration interview because of her monthly "crimpka poosh."