George is in a price war with Big Sky Cleaners and they are no holds bar. A representative from Big Sky comes to the Jefferson's apartment offering to buy George out and he refuses. When Big Sky comes out with a 1,000,000 customer gimmick George tries to find his own gimmick and people with ""talent"" swamp the apartment including a bearded lady and a lion tamer. But when Louise goes down to Big Sky to end this battle she becomes the 1,000,000 customer. This leads George to decide to sell out.

George has decided to sell out to Big Sky Cleaners and he begins to hang around the apartment like he already has retired. This drives Florence and Louise up the wall since he has gotten into the habit of giving advice to everyone he meets. However, pretty soon, George has second thoughts about giving up his business.

When Tom gets his pants back from Jefferson Cleaners with a stain on them, he wants a refund however George refuses to pay for the pants, charging it was Tom's fault for leaving a candy bar in the pocket. This leads them to take their case to a TV court show.

Florence is unsure of the future when she realizes she doesn't have any financial security. This prompts her to ask George for a pension plan, something George flatly refuses.

Charlie wants George to provide him with a loan for some improvements on his bar. George refuses but does offer him some advice on how to get some more business, including hiring waitresses and dressing them provocatively. This leads Charlie to go to Tom who goes in on the deal and quickly the bar is buzzing with business, something George now wants a part of.

Louise is not looking forward to the visit of one of George's best friends, Johnny Moore, due to the fact that she can't stand his chauvinistic jokestar mannerisms. Things get worse when she inadvertantly gets him to stay at the Jeffersons' apartment during his stay in New York.

At a party thrown by the Willis, the guest of honor, Joe Blake, a successful author, asks Florence out and she can't wait to go out with him. However, soon after he takes her away on their date, Tom and Helen let George and Louise know the fact that he was in prison for murdering his girlfriend.

For George's birthday, Louise books herself, George and Florence on a murder mystery cruise ship for mystery novelists, thus George pretends to be a novelist. George is having fun trying to solve a murder mystery until an apparant ""real"" murder occurs.

The novelists try to solve the apparent ""real"" murder with George trying his best to solve it as well. When it is determind that the victim, Edgar, was poisoned the crew deduces that the Duchess did it, however in the end George discovers the real culprit.

George stops by 8-B, Ms. Sanderson's apartment, to drop off her cleaning bid but soon after he leaves, Ralph stops by and hears Ms. Sanderson having sex with a man named George and Ralph quickly jumps to the wrong conclusion.

Louise discovers some old poems the George once wrote and has them bound in a book. However, in order to get it bound she must order a number of copies, copies which get circulated around to those living in the building. George is furious however his attitude changes when a publisher takes an interest in his poems.

George's investment advice for Tom proves fruitful and puts Helen in a fur coat. This prompts Florence to want to make some money so she asks George for advice. However, since she doesn't have enough money for investing, he suggests she go in on the venture with the other maids in the building. The results of the ordeal prove to be less that satisfying, for George anyway.

While going through a box of momentos, George refuses to allow Louise to see a certain picture and decides to put it in his store safe. Determind to see it and with Helen in tow, Louise tries to break into the store safe but both her and Helen end up in jail.

Florence runs into an old classmate, Pauline, and finds that she has married money. This prompts a jealous Florence to say that she too married wealth, George. This leads to Louise posing as the maid and Florence posing as Louise when Pauline comes over for dinner.

George forgets to pick up opera tickets and this leads to Louise and Helen comparing him to the ""thoughful"" Tom. A miffed George spills the beans about Tom buying an insurance policy and has made a cousin the beneficiary, a cousin who is a racist and is against Tom and Helen's marriage.

With the Help Center on its last legs, Louise and Helen desperately try to find someone who could make a sizeable donation to keep the Help Center going. This prompts Louise to go to her ex-employer, Lillian Warren, whom Louise worked for as a maid and who treated her like a piece of furniture.

Jenny is depressed that no one will take a chance on her fashion designs so she stops by the Jefferson's apartment for a visit. Meanwhile, George's bodyguard, Hugo, is determined to find love now that, as he puts it, is in the spring of his life. When he runs into Jenny he falls for her and is determined to make her his even though she's married.

One evening while playing poker, George and his buddies make a mess of the living room throwing food all over. This prompts Florence to stay up all night cleaning up after George's mess which is why she is exhausted the next morning. This leads George to make a bet with Florence stating that he can do in three hours what she does in a day.

The good life is striking everyone, George has hit success with the stocks allowing Louise to get a ring she wanted, Tom has just gotten a new client and Helen has just been pampered at a spa where she met famous celebrities. Wanting in on the ""good life"" Florence shells out enough money to go to the spa wanting to meet celebrities and unknowingly runs into Gladys Knight.

A young boy befriends Louise and Helen and they become convinced that he has a crush on one of them but the real reason he befriended them was to get to George. He wants to ask George if he would participate in a father-son bowling tournament, since his father is supposedly dead. However, the boy does indeed have a father who's alive, but not-so well, he's a parapalegic.

On the night of a big banquet for Tom, George runs out at the last minute to do an errand at his store in Queens. Once there, we're taken back to 1968 and witness the grand opening of Jefferson Cleaners and we see how George earned his first dollar.

George is trying to drum up some cleaning business from a famous fashion designer, Camille Hendricks. George tricks Jenny into swinging by the apartment to meet her in order to show her some of her designs, however Jenny is unprepared for this unexpected surprise.

George is in yet another promotional battle with Cunningham. This time Cunningham has hired a popular soap star to boost sales, so for competition, George tries to get celebrities too. However, his idea may get him in trouble with the law when he hires celebrity look alikes and is going to try to pass them off as the real thing.

An auction is held to raise money for the Help Center and Florence gets a big surprise when she discovers $2500 stuffed under the lining of a hat that she buys. Florence turns the money into the police, hoping no one will claim it and no one does. However, just as Florence thinks she'll get to keep the money, an apparent owner arrives at the apartment.

When Florence asks for enough money to purchase a new TV set, George flatly refuses. She tries again, this time politly asking and again, George refuses. This leads to George having a dream about entering the gates of heaven after Florence makes a comment that he'll never get by those gates if she held the key.

When her marriage gets into a rut, Louise tries to spice up her marriage by trying to get George to spend some time with her. However, her idea of spending time turns into a disaster when they get into a bicycling accident landing them both with a broken leg.