When a heat wave hits Quahog, Peter gets Brian to enter a dog show to win $500 so that the family can get a new air conditioner. When they argue over a trick gone bad, Brian walks out on the family and Peter replaces him with a cat. Brian struggles to assert his civil rights and soon ends up at the pound. Luckily, Peter is able to bail him out by bribing the judge.

Lois' aunt dies and leaves her mansion to the Griffins.

Peter and Brian’s friendship becomes strained after Brian begins dating one of Meg’s high school teachers. Peter finds a replacement friend in James Woods, who is visiting Quahog because of a suggestion to rename James Woods High after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.