While eavesdropping, Raj mistakenly believes he is soon to became a father, while Nadine has instead planned a different surprise for him -- dinner with his long-lost father (Thalmus Rasulala, ""What's Happening!!"") who has care to make amends with his estranged son.

A new management company is raising rents in her apartment building, so Shirley gathers her friends and fellow tenants together to confront the evil landlord -- who is in for the fight of his life.

Raj is elated when his agent informs him that he may have a movie deal for Raj's latest screenplay -- until it's discovered that it is really Nadine's case study on homeless women that the producer really wants to turn into a blockbuster feature film.

Raj is quickly exposed to modern art when he discovers that a nude painting Nadine posed for years earlier is now part of a prominent art exhibit.

Raj's dream of going on a fishing trip with Dwayne becomes a real life nightmare when his mother-in-law sinks her hooks into him.

Raj makes a spectacle of himself at Dwayne's party when he drinks too much, dances too much and wakes up with a strange woman.

Shirley realizes that the buddy system works both ways when she volunteers to be a big sister to a teenage girl.

Raj is misled by a psychiatric patient posing as a book publisher.

Dwayne finds out that business and pleasure don't mix when he dates the daughter of his boss.

Nadine, Shirley and Dee are in a tight squeeze when their car breaks down, leaving them stranded in a secluded mountain cabin while an escaped convict prowls outside.

In an effort to impress an old schoolmate, Shirley pretends to be Raj 's wife and the mother of two children whom they have ""rented"" to support the lie.

Dwayne's old army buddy comes to visit and challenges Raj to a poker game, which almost costs him his car and his half interest in the diner.

Dwayne falls in love with a nurse from El Salvador who, upon returning to her country, is killed when fighting erupts in her village.

Dee brings two of her sorority pledge sisters home for the weekend from college and one of their pranks costs Raj $500 first prize money in a poetry competition.

Raj convinces himself Nadine is having an affair when he uncovers secret plans for a cruise she has been saving up for to surprise him.

A lovesick pest follows Dee home from college and drives the Thomases crazy with his obnoxious attempts to win her affection.

Raj has a nightmare that he's homeless during Christmas and awakens to realize that it can happen to anyone.

When ""Jolly Cholly"" opens a restaurant down the street, Rob's Place starts losing customers until Raj and the gang persuade a hot rap group to record a radio commercial for their sinking business.

Raj and Shirley sponsor a little league baseball team, and no sooner does Raj became the coach than he learns that the opening game is against the team of his dreaded high school nemesis.

When Raj's criminal cousin, Willie (Ernest Thomas, in a dual role), a dead-ringer for Raj, escapes from prison, the Thomas household becomes a comedy of errors when Nadine, Shirley and Dwayne are victims of the mistaken identity.

Nadine brings home Nanooka (Teresa Ganzel), a lovesick woman from the Arctic Circle, to work as a maid until Raj can rejoin her with her boyfriend for a bizarre ceremonial wedding in the Thomas living room.