Fiona spends her summer with a new guy and bartending, while Debbie runs a daycare at their home. Meanwhile, Kevin realizes his extended weed-growing left him with a huge electrical bill and Frank borrows his youngest son Liam to help him pay a debt.

As Sheila conquers her agoraphobia, a worried Frank finds a new financial plan in fellow bar patron Dottie, whose declining health and city pension make her an ideal match; Fiona juggles her job, the kids and her burgeoning love life, and Jasmine tries to help by setting up Fiona with a sugar daddy; Veronica takes some old folks from the home on an excursion; Lip worries about Karen's growing relationship with Jody; Ian tries to land a recently released Mickey a job at the Kash and Grab; Debbie wants her own room; Carl moves into the van.

Fiona hopes her moral compass isn't leading her astray when she reconnects with her married high school crush, but when she finds an abandoned purse with over five hundred dollars inside, she assumes her luck is finally changing; Frank is willing to do just about anything to stay in Dottie's good graces, even marry her; after Harry's passing, Debbie becomes obsessed with death; Kevin thinks about buying the Alibi; Lip meets with a colonel to glean information for Ian about West Point; Jody asks Frank for Karen's hand in marriage.

Fiona deals with the consequences of sleeping with Craig when his angry wife shows up at the door; Debbie develops a stress-rash and Fiona wonders if she's putting too much responsibility on the kids; Sheila has made it all the way to the hair salon and Frank realizes his days in the Jackson household are numbered; no longer having sex with Karen, Lip tries to dig up dirt on Jody; Ian continues on the path to West Point; Carl house-sits with his friend, Little Hank; Ethel meets Malik, a boy on Kevin's youth basketball team.

Grammy Gallagher shows up on a medical furlough and tries to track down a former meth lab protege that owes her money; Sheila plans Karen's wedding reception; Fiona double dates with Steve and his Brazilian girlfriend, and discovers that Steve is married; Ethel reacts to Clyde's death; Frank discovers the identity of Eddie's insurance beneficiary.

Monica returns to party and plot scams with Frank, but the rest of the family suspects she hasn't returned to stay; Fiona reconsiders her decision to kick Lip out of the house; Grammy's death affects everyone differently, and leaves Frank determined to make sure he gets every last penny his mother left behind; Sheila and Jody think Eddie's ghost is haunting the house.

Fiona is stressed about the money she used for her club night; Frank makes his way home.

Frank tells Carl he has cancer to scam a charity foundation; Lip hunts down pedophiles in the neighborhood.

Carl says his goodbyes; Frank is on babysitting duty; Sheila wants to introduce Jody to toy time.

The city of Chicago gives notice that they're doing work on the sewer main. The problem? Aunt Ginger's bones are still buried in the yard and Frank needs to find her before the city does. Meanwhile, Fiona is picked on at work for not satisfying her boss. When Fiona fails to provide the support Jimmy needs, he turns to Este. Molly learns that she's a boy and Ned asks Ian to rob his wife's house.

The Department of Family Services hauls the Gallagher children away, leaving Fiona desperate to get them back. With Monica nowhere to be found, Fiona is forced to find Frank and get him to make a "Father of the Year" appearance in court. It all goes well until Fiona discovers that Frank's not the solution to her problem - he's the cause. Meanwhile, Kev and Veronica recruit V's mother as a surrogate and Terry catches Mickey and Ian in a compromising situation.

Fiona starts a new office job but has a hard time fitting in with the corporate culture. In an attempt to get medical coverage, Frank inadvertently becomes involved in the gay rights movement where he meets Abraham Paige, a powerful activist.

Fiona's job has brought structure ito her life, but when Jimmy drops a bomb on her things fall apart. Frank is happy with his newfound celebrity as the face of the gay rights movement.

Fiona and the family prepare a surprise high school,graduation party for Lip. Frank wins a bet and uses the winnings to take Lip out for lobster and some quality father/son time.

Fiona begins to enjoy the perks of living life just above the poverty line. She uses her newly activated health benefits to take the kids for checkups. However, when a road rage incident damages the company car, Fiona tells a much bigger lie about how it happened. Meanwhile, Lip seems to have lost his mojo as he struggles in school and with the ladies.

Against her better judgment, Fiona continues her secret affair with Robbie. The situation nearly boils over when Mike shows up at Robbie’s apartment while Fiona is inside. Fiona is able to hide just in time before her infidelity can be exposed. Frank, in increasingly dire health straits due to liver disease, attempts to contrive an “accident” that will provide an ample insurance payout to cover the cost of a potential transplant.