Carol's odd behavior leads Maude to believe she's having an affair. When Maude learns Carol is really seeing a psychiatrist, she is determined to get to the bottom of the situation and find out why her daughter needs therapy. Maude promptly makes an enexpected visit to Carol's psychiatrist but soon finds herself being analyzed.

Carol and Maude thinks it's cute when they discover a curious Phillip playing doctor with Arthur's equally curious granddaughter. However, the prudish Arthur insists that Phillip be severely punished which leads to a debate between Maude, Cariol and Arthur over morals.

Maude hires a new housekeeper, Florida Evans, and from the moment she walks through the front door, Maude is determind to make her feel like an equal. However, her attempts lead Florida to decide to quit. Meanwhile, Walter is a bit disturbed to find Philip swearing into a tape recorder.

Carol is dating Russell Asher, a dashing writer, who just happens to have once dated and later jilted Maude. This leads Maude to do her best to warn Carol of Russell's egotistical ways. However, Carol refuses to heed Maude's warnings and continues to date him, even spending the night with him which turns into a disaster.

Maude throws a fund raising party for a black militant leader and invites rich white liberals but doesn't tell them it is a fund raising party. Meanwhile, Maude does her best to get a black couple to attend the party but must settle for a disguised Florida. Arthur doesn't help the situation either after prescribing tranquilers to Maude who during the party mixes them with alcohol.

Returning home from shopping, Maude gets pulled over for speeding 34 miles in a 30 mph zone, but adamantly refuses to believe she was speeding at all. Later, during the trial, Maude tries all attempts to get out of paying the fine and prove her innocence.

Tired of living with her mother and stepfather and wanting a father figure for Phillip, Carol decides to propose marriage to a man she doesn't love. Meanwhile, married life doesn't seem to be all what it's cracked up to be for Maude and Walter who's argument leads to destruction in the kitchen.

While waiting for the electoral results for Election 1972, Maude and Walter recall Election 1968. Carol had just gotten a divorce and moved in with Maude. Meanwhile, Walter and Maude's relationship had reached a pivotal moment; should they marry or live together.

Maude and Walter are scheduled to play cards one evening with some friends but Maude is anything but in a card playing mood. Especially since, she just came back from a doctor's appointment with some shocking news. At 47 years old, Maude has become pregnant. Now the hard part, breaking the news to Walter.

After Carol suggests an abortion, Maude begins heavy debating over the pros and cons of having a baby at her age. Walter's ""what-ever-you-want"" attitude has Maude having a problem deciding wheather or not to keep the baby. Ultimately, Maude takes into consideration everyone's opinion and makes a final decision, she decides not to have the baby.

Maude pulls out all her high school memorabilia as she awaits the arrival of an old school friend, Phyllis Nash, who was nicknamed both ""Bunny"" because of an overbite and ""Mousie"" because of her looks. However, Maude is stunned and becomes envious when she discovers Phyllis is now a beauty with a career to match.

As a 19-year-old faces a lengthy prison sentence for marijuana possession, Maude and a group of middle-aged housewives plan a protest at a police station. The plan is to get arrested for possession and Maude is supposed to provide the pot. However, trying to get her hands on some, proves to be problematic.

Maude is stunned to discover a black man picketing in front of her home. It isn't until later that she discovers that Walter and her have unwittingly become the owners of a rundown apartment building and they are now being labeled ""slumlords"".

Walter and Maude go to Massachusetts for an appliance seller's convention. When their reservations at a upscale hotel are botched, they must share a shabby motel. This is when a squabble ensues when Maude tries to confide in Walter the angst she has over not having any meaning in her life and the troubles she's been having trying to find a job because she's a woman.

Maude plans a surprise 50th birthday bash for Walter that does not go as well as she planned since Walter is too depressed to have any fun. However, Maude hopes an old friend will be the cure for Walter's gloominess, but she is dead wrong when he drops dead before Walter's eyes.

Walter and Maude are planning on taking a second honeymoon to Italy, however, the day their plane leaves, Maude gets a tetnus shot which results in a rash. She immediatley hotfoots it down to the doctors office where she encounters a busy preoccupied doctor who perscribes her medication but doesn't advise her on how to take it, resulting in an overdose, cancellation of the honeymoon and a possible malpractice suit.

After a fire breaks out in his home, Arthur moves in with the Findlays and immediately works over Maude's nerves. Not only does Arthur keep Walter up all night playing card games, but he gives Florida work to do and insists Maude prepare his food in a certain way. Pretty soon, Maude insists that Walter throw him out.

Florida is backed into a corner by her chauvinistic husband, Henry, who has picked up a second job and orders her to quit her housekeeping job at the Findlays home. Soon it begins to cause problems for Maude and Walter as Walter takes Henry's side and Maude takes Florida's.

Carol walks into a cocktail lounge and catches a glimpse of Walter having drinks in a cozy corner with a woman who once worked for him. When Maude finds out, she immediately jumps to the conclusion that Walter is having an affair and promptly packs up his things and orders him out of the house.

An old friend of Maude's comes for a visit with news of a feud between herself and her daughter. This leads Maude to go all out and try to reconcile the two but a generation gap and financial matters are working against her attempts. Meanwhile, at the same time, Maude tries to matchmake her friend up with Arthur.

Maude is convinced that her best friend, Vivian has the ""perfect marriage"" so she is completely stunned when Vivian announces plans for a divorce. This leads Maude to analyze her supposed ""perfect marriage"".

Maude and Walter prepare for a dinner party at Cliff and Joanna Naylor's home. However, while they are getting ready, they discuss and bicker about Cliff's apparent crush on Maude and how she is flattered by him, that is until Walter breaks the news that Cliff is having an affair with someone else at the country club.

After a wild evening of drinking, Maude, Walter and Arthur awake to discover some oddities. First, Maude and Arthur shared a bed, second the guys trashed the living room and third, Walter made an obscene phone call to Maude's mother. Carol suggests that perhaps Walter has a drinking problem but he refuses to face that fact. Maude and Walter later get into a big argument while they are both drunk and Walter slaps her.

After giving Maude a black eye, Walter continues to drink. Later, Arthur sends over a recovering alcoholic to talk some sense into Walter who adamantly refuses help. When Walter discovers Maude got rid of all the alcohol, he goes ballistic and she locks him in the closet. That's when Carol makes an announcement, she's taking Phillip and is moving out

Walter declares the day ""National I Love You Day"" and gives gifts to one and all and plans to spend a romantic day with Maude. However, when a weepy, newly-divorced Vivian comes over for consolation from Maude, Walter's romantic plans get pushed aside and he takes refuge at the gym with Arthur.

At age 47 and recently divorced, Vivian begins her single career (a.k.a. husband search) by getting a face-lift; her new face receives plenty of cheers from Carol and Walter, but only jeers from Maude. This leads Vivian to state the obvious, Maude is jealous and would like a face-lift herself. Maude finally decides to have one and intends to keep it a secret from Walter until she has it done.

Carol does her best to try to keep Walter in the house as anticipation mounts for Maude's return from a 3-week stay in Boston. For which, following Vivian's lead, Maude too got a face-lift. There is only one problem: Walter doesn't notice the difference! As usual, all hell breaks loose and Walter and Maude have yet another argument.

The lazy furnace repairman, Whitnauer, has been showing an interest in Florida and she doesn't quite know what to do about his advances. This situation ultimately causes marital problems between Florida and her husband, Henry, when he catches her dancing with the man. Meanwhile, Maude and Walter are finding it hard to get Whitnauer to hurry it up on the furnace.

Maude is sky high now that she has a part-time job as a real estate agent. However, things on the home-front are not so happy as Walter, a self proclaimed old fashioned man, is not used to coming home and not having Maude to cook for him and tell his problems too. Thus, he orders her to quit her job.

Carol and her boyfriend, Chris return from a camping trip and Maude voices her old fashioned morals to Carol when he stays over and the question becomes where should he sleep, in Carol's room or in the guest room. Later, Carol and Chris make an exciting announcement, they're engaged.

Maude's constant matchmaking for Vivian has her fed up, especially since all the men have one thing on their mind. This leads Vivian to give up on men and settle for a 70-year old retired general. However, when Maude learns this, she becomes determined to show Vivian that she can do better and fixes her up with Arthur.

Maude is putting together a charity musical to raise money for a library. The musical is set to be in the style of burlesque, however, Arthur is having a problem with almost every sketch that is planned, accusing them of being distasteful and in some cases pornographic. Maude is quickly faced with an ultimatum, Arthur's way or no musical.

A major argument erupts on the day that Maude and Walter are to accept a husband and wife of the year award. The reason: Maude discovers that Walter has appointed a trustee in his will and of all people, the trustee is Arthur; Maude promptly refuses to go to the banquet to accept the award.

As their impending nuptials draw near, Maude decides to give Carol and Chris their wedding gift early. They are both certainly surprised to find out that Maude has put a down payment on a house for them but the even bigger surprise is that the house is located right across the street. Immediately this sparks family tension between mother and daughter and future husband and wife.

For their 5th wedding anniversary, Maude makes a big mistake in giving Walter an electric organ as a gift. He's driving everyone up the wall with his constant playing. Maude soon confronts him and they end up a huge argument, leading to Walter storming out and crashing his car into a tree.

An office party on Christmas Eve at the Findlays home sets the stage for Walter's employees to break the news that they are planning to be unionized. When Walter learns this he decides to fire all of them, however, there is yet another issue at hand, Maude is on there side.

Arthur and Vivian have been dating regularly and Vivian has had it with Arthur's constant mentioning of his late wife, Agnes. This leads to yet another argument between Maude and Walter over her late husband, Albert. However, by the end of the evening, Vivian makes an exciting announcement, Arthur and her are engaged.

Maude is all excited to have a young black girl from the ghetto stay with the Findlays for awhile. She soon discovers that that the girl is actually a feisty teenager who is not thrilled to be staying in a white, guilt ridden, liberals' home and quickly starts driving everyone up the wall.

Maude finds a wallet on the street that belongs to a man, known for his infidelities. After Walter declares a wallet is a place of privacy for all men, she snoops into his wallet. This triggers a series of mistaken identities when she confronts a woman, Norma, whom she thinks is carrying on an affair with Walter.

Walter throws Maude a surprise birthday party and she truly is surprised but unhappy about turning another year older. Tired of the men going off by themselves and the women going off by themselves, Maude makes Walter promise to not leave her side the entire evening. However, he soon breaks his promise and Maude goes into her bedroom and refuses to come out.

Maude suggests a romantic winter wedding for Arthur and Vivian, so they all head to Vermont. However, Arthur and Vivian's wedding plans run into trouble as the wedding party gets stranded at a train station during a blizzard. Once there, Maude confronts Arthur about the cold feet he has over marrying Vivian.

After Henry, Florida's husband, gets a job promotion, she must tell Maude she's leaving to become a full-time housewife. Maude is heartbroken and is reluctant to hire anyone new but as applicants for the new job come in, Maude finds something wrong with each one. Finally, at the end of the day, Maude must say goodbye to Florida.

Walter is a nervous wreck as the Findlays get a tax audit but the tax auditor, Harvey Clarke, turns out to be a man who tried to rape Maude 31 years ago in Boston, Massachusetts. When she tells Walter he doesn't want to do anything about it, but Maude can't let it go and decides to refresh his memory.

Arthur gives Walter a stock tip which causes Walter to lose $3,700. Walter, angry at Arthur, insists on being angry with Arthur for saying it was a sure thing. Later, when Walter finds out Arthur didn't invest in the stock himself, questions arise about his financial situation, which leads to a huge blowup between Walter, Maude, Vivian and Arthur.

Maude's grandson Phillip has been behaving horribly lately and Carol does not know what to do with him. Walter quickly suggests giving him a good old fashioned spanking, but Maude is vehemently against it. However, she begins to change her mind when Carol and Chris leave for a weekend getaway.

Francie Potter, the teenage house-guest from the ghetto returns again, this time asking for money to run away from home. In a plot with her boyfriend, Francie worms her way into Maude's wallet using a bogus story about her drunken father who abuses her and she now want to escape to become a rock and roll star.