Streetsmart Bronx native, Jo Polniaczeck arrives at Eastland.

Mrs. Garrett bails the girls out of jail and announces that they all have been expelled from Eastland. However, they can stay if they move in with Mrs. Garrett and work in the cafeteria. This prompts Jo's want to leave to become even stronger.

Blair is sure that an old friend of hers', Harrison Andrews is going to invite her to a cotillion, however she is thrown for a loop when he invites Jo.

Tootie begins to think long and hard about her race and how she's being treated at Eastland, thanks to a new boy whom Tootie took an interest in. Tootie soon begins to shun Natalie, Jo and Blair and even backs out of a dance contest because her dance partner is white.

When Blair's cousin, Geri, arrives for a visit, Mrs. Garrett, based on Blair's behavior, thinks she's embarrassed of Geri since she has cerebral palsy. However later Mrs. Garrett realizes she's really jealous of her since Geri is also a successful comedienne.

It's Edna's birthday and the girls want to buy her a gift. Blair told them that she would buy the gift but Jo, Natalie, and Tootie decide to buy their own gift. They decide to buy a cool Hawaiian shirt for Mrs. Garrett because it's on sale. When they go to the store they find the sale has ended. Jo decided to steal the shirt. Later, Mrs. Garrett decides to return the shirt and discovers it was stolen.

Jo's boyfriend, Eddie, surprises her by making a sudden visit to Peekskill, but she gets even more of a surprise when he proposes marriage.

When Tootie overhears a secret that Blair tells Jo about Nancy's beau, she lets the secret slip and Nancy and Blair get into a fight which leads Blair to give Jo the silent treatment. Things get worse, when Tootie mistakes Mrs. Garrett for being drunk, when really her eyes had been dilated by her eye doctor prompting her to be a little topsy turvy. The rumor of Mrs. Garrett's drunken sprawl could cost her her job.

Blair is running for class president but things get out of hand when one of the candidates commits suicide.

Natalie hits it off with Neil, a boy she meets at a dance and they later begin studying together. However, rumors are spread that Natalie and Neil did more than just study which brings on calls from a number of boys who want to study with Natalie. Natalie encourages these rumors when she goes out with the boys due to the fact that Blair, Jo and Tootie laughed at the notion that Natalie could be a sex symbol.

Shortly after winning an award, Jo learns that her jailbird father, is getting paroled and that he would like to attend the awards ceremony. However, an ashamed Jo, tries to keep her father from attending as well as tries to keep secret the fact that her dad is in prison.

Tootie is lured into doing a photo shoot for a fashion photographer.

Blair is selling Countess Calvert cosmetics, and she uses Natalie as a model.

Mrs. Garrett's musician son, Alex stops by Eastland for a visit, with tales about how he rubs elbows with other musicians like Neil Diamond and Carly Simon. However, Blair smells a rat when she contradicts one of his stories and when she learns that Mrs. Garrett is still supporting him.

Tootie and Natalie go to visit Tootie's aunt Sylvia. However, they are unaware they are showing up right in the middle of a fight. Sylvia and her husband are an interacial couple and Sylvia has just gotten a job offer in New York and Brian is not to happy about moving.