After years of doing improvements on her rental house, Grace learns that her landlord is putting it on the market. Grace and Nadine attempt to discourage potential buyers, but the house is sold. When Libby's ""pet"" squirrel bites her, Wade, Russell and Floyd round up all the neighborhood squirrels so the culprit can be identified and tested for rabies. Libby is devastated to learn that the rabies test required killing the squirrel, and she tearfully ""runs away"" to the deserted, ramshackle house across the street. Grace follows her there to console her, and after seeing the inside of the house, decides to buy it and fix it up.

When Russell's ex-wife Barbara shows up with her current boy-toy in tow and says she's dragging Russell back to court to have her alimony payments raised, Russell thinks he's doomed, but Grace says they should investigate Barbara's finances and Russell should take a stand in the name of working women everywhere. At the hearing, Grace reveals that Barbara owns a condominium complex that she hadn't reported, and the judge orders her to return much of her alimony to Russell. Jean offers Grace a loan to fix up the house and, although she claims to have an extremely busy social life with her many friends, even suggests she could move in to help with expenses. Grace bluntly turns her down on both offers, but when Floyd pressures Russell to offer Grace a $5,000 loan for a new roof, Russell hesitantly complies and Grace takes him up on it. And Grace is touched when she learns that the friends Jean claims to be spending time with are really the names of characters in a book that Jean has been r

Russell asks Grace to be his date at the dance at the Victory Country Club where he's applying for membership; though Grace can't imagine why he'd want to associate with such a bunch of snobs, she agrees to attend the dance. Jimmy brings Quentin home after spending the summer with him in Ohio, and Quentin couldn't be angrier with Jimmy. When Grace learns that the reason for Quentin's anger is that he wanted to keep living with Jimmy, she talks to Jimmy who says he wants to be more of a father to the kids, so he's moving back to Victory. Wade goes to take the test to become a garbage collector and comes home with a job as a police officer. At the dance, Russell proves he's willing to go to any lengths to be come a country club member.

Dougie moves into Grace's garage apartment, and it soon becomes apparent that he's a forty-two year old man who still needs his mother. Grace comes up against a brick wall in her attempts to communicate with Quentin. Libby gets a present from the sailor she's writing to as part of a class project and confesses to Grace that she's never told him her age; Grace says Libby will have to stop the deception, but it's too late as sailor Bob arrives in the Kelly's driveway. Grace is determined to straighten everything out until she gets a look at Bob; she then says she's Libby and goes on a date with Bob to a Star Trek convention, but Libby resents that she's lost her new friend to Grace, and Grace finally tells Bob what's really going on.

Grace and Russell are so bored with their lives that they decide to go out on a pretend date. Grace and the guys at the refinery learn that they've been fired and rehired as independent contractors which means they'll get no benefits. The guys decide to stage a group protest on the decision; they don't get their benefits back, but they do get free coffee. On her pretend date, Grace meets Rob, a very attractive man who she thinks would be great for cheap, meaningless sex, and agrees to go out with him, but when he comes to pick her up she discovers he's far too intelligent to use as a sex object, so they just go for coffee. And Wade and Nadine go back to the lakeside cottage where they spent their honeymoon, but all they do is go fishing.

Grace finds some of Mrs. Walker's old dresses and tells Libby she can use one of them for a Halloween costume. Jean's chairlift suddenly stops working, and Wade agrees to have a look at the wiring in the house, but Libby says that Mrs. Walker's ghost, who she claims to have seen around the house, probably has something to do with the problem. Grace meets Tom at a Halloween party and then learns that he's Reverend Maxwell from Jean's church--the minister that Jean's always raving about. Tom Maxwell stops buy and asks Grace out on a date; she accepts and they have a terrific evening and a great conversation in which Grace encourages Tom to have the courage to pursue his dreams. Patrick tells Grace that there's a ghost outside, and an unbelieving Grace gives him a water pistol and tells him to squirt the ghost, but when she and Libby find a warm pie in the backyard and no one else is around, even Grace begins to wonder. When Reverend Maxwell turns in his resignation at the church, Jean ho

Jimmy's back in town to stay, and, on Grace's recommendation, he gets a job at the refinery, but his first day is a disaster, and Nadine and Wade say she shouldn't jeopardize her job for someone who used to treat her so badly; Grace, however, says that Jimmy's a different person than he was when they were married and he deserves to make a fresh start. Quentin goes to Jimmy for advice on dating, and he suggests that Quentin go on a practice date with a friend before asking out the girl he really likes. Grace goes to the motel where Jimmy's staying and finds Jean there with her son. Jimmy's depressed and thinks he'll lose his job (in reality, Grace's co-workers have been sabotaging him as revenge for the way he used to treat Grace) but he says he'll never leave his kids again. Jean reproaches Grace for all the ""lies"" she told about Jimmy abusing her, but Jimmy makes Jean face the fact that the things Grace said were true. And Grace is livid when she hears about Jimmy's advice to Quentin,

Jimmy's back in town to stay, and, on Grace's recommendation, he gets a job at the refinery, but his first day is a disaster, and Nadine and Wade say she shouldn't jeopardize her job for someone who used to treat her so badly; Grace, however, says that Jimmy's a different person than he was when they were married and he deserves to make a fresh start. Quentin goes to Jimmy for advice on dating, and he suggests that Quentin go on a practice date with a friend before asking out the girl he really likes. Grace goes to the motel where Jimmy's staying and finds Jean there with her son. Jimmy's depressed and thinks he'll lose his job (in reality, Grace's co-workers have been sabotaging him as revenge for the way he used to treat Grace) but he says he'll never leave his kids again. Jean reproaches Grace for all the ""lies"" she told about Jimmy abusing her, but Jimmy makes Jean face the fact that the things Grace said were true. And Grace is livid when she hears about Jimmy's advice to Quentin,

When Libby's poem wins the ""Why I Love My State"" contest, Grace, Nadine and Libby go to New York for the national competition. Rick follows Grace to New York to tell her that he's about to get married but will call it off if she still has feelings for him. Libby meets a cute boy who's also a contestant and tells Grace she wants him to win; Grace's tells her she's disappointed that Libby would lose her competitive spirit for the sake of a boy's approval. And Grace tells Rick that she still loves him but that their feelings for each other apparently aren't enough for them to have a life together. They regretfully part, unsure if they'll ever see each other again.

Grace, Libby and Nadine are still in New York, and Grace is obsessing that she's somehow failed to make this the perfect trip for Libby. Back in Victory, Russell is taken over babysitting chores, and, though he's wary of Quentin, it's Patrick who inflicts the torture. When Grace accidentally locks herself along with Libby and Nadine out on their hotel room balcony, Terry, a handsome fireman, comes to their rescue, but Grace is irritated by his condescending attitude toward out-of-towners. Later, at a jazz club Terry recommended, Grace is surprised to see him on-stage performing. Grace and Terry spend the evening together at his place where Grace meets Terry's son Robby who's just been dropped off by Terry's ex-wife. Grace marvels at how much she and Terry have in common but thinks that starting a long-distance relationship after just having her heart broken by Rick would be insane.

With Grace at work all day and taking college classes at night, the kids are a little resentful that she's away so much and let Grace know it, and when she learns that the refinery will no longer pay for her classes it's the last straw. She knows she has no way to pay for her education, so when she learns that she can take a proficiency test to get many of the credits she needs, she's faced with a dilemma. She's scheduled to work the day of the test, and no one can switch with her, so it's her education or her dead-end job. Her co-workers remind her that she really needs her job--her children are depending on her, but the kids say they'll support whatever decision she makes. Grace actually shows up for work the day of the test, but a conversation with her boss, John Shirley, convinces her that she has do what she knows is the right thing and quit her job.

Holiday festivities are underway in the Kelly household with Jean making her famous punch loaf to Grace's dismay and Jimmy's delight. Floyd is so much in the holiday spirit that he's giving away the entire inventory at the pharmacy, and an exasperated Russell decides to get rid of him by sending him on a cruise. Grace gets suspicious of Quentin's mellow mood and at first thinks that he's been drinking beer with his friends. When it dawns on her that he's been smoking pot, she fears that she's about to see him repeating all her teenage mistakes and decides that ""tough love"" is the only way to handle the situation.

When Matthew shows up at Grace's and announces he's about to marry Joan, a woman old enough to be his mother who also happens to be pregnant, Grace tries to keep her cool, especially when Matthew tells her his adoptive mother has no objections. But when Grace speaks to Emily, she learns that the only reason she didn't object was that Matthew seemed so adamant about marrying this woman. As the wedding day gets nearer, Joan confesses to Grace that although she definitely wants the baby, she doesn't want to marry Matthew in spite of how determined he seems to go through with the marriage. When Grace confronts Matthew about Joan's feelings, Matthew says he wants to marry Joan because he won't abandon this child. Grace understands that Matthew feels on some level that he himself was abandoned by her, and she tells him that he can still be very much a part of the baby's life without marrying the baby's mother.

Grace is going crazy trying to finish her paper on ""The Grapes of Wrath,"" and she keeps reminding Quentin that he also has a book report that's due. When Martha, one of Grace's classmates, says she's apartment hunting, Grace jumps at the chance to have her as a tenant. Martha moves in with her parrot, Ignatius, and Libby and Quentin are both charmed by her. Even Jean thinks she's great, but Wade says he thinks he's met her before but just can't place her until he sees the parrot and realizes that Martha is a stripper that he knows from patrolling the strip club where she works. Grace has no problem with Martha's profession and admires her efforts to continue her education. Grace encounters Mrs. Sheffield who tells her she's given Quentin a C+ on his ""Grapes of Wrath"" book report, and Grace confronts Quentin about stealing her work. And when Martha drops out of school and moves back to St. Louis without even saying goodbye to the kids, Grace feels Martha has let both them and her down a

Libby reminds Grace of their deal that if she could keep her goldfish alive for six months, Grace would buy her a dog. Tomorrow, Libby tells Grace, Fishy Fishman will be six months old, and a deal's a deal. Grace is willing to do anything in her powder to convince Libby that a dog isn't a good idea. Wade drops by to introduce Ted, his new partner. Grace tells Russell about Fishy Fishman's upcoming birthday, and Russell says a lot can happen overnight, but Grace warns him not to try anything.Wade and Ted return to Grace's and want to see Quentin; some kids climbed the fence of the Victory Country Club the previous night, went skinny-dipping in the pool, put lipstick on a statue of Ben Hogan and made off with some very expensive golf clubs. Against Wade's wishes, Ted insists on taking Quentin in and booking him unless he's willing to rat on his friends. At first Grace gives Wade a hard time until she finds out this isn't his idea. Jimmy shows up at the police station saying there's no wa

Russell thinks all his friends are being disloyal because they're shopping at the new chain store pharmacy that's opened in the neighborhood. Libby is so involved in planning her birthday party that it's become an obsession, while Quentin is so eager to get a driver's license that he's letting Wade, Russell and even Jean give him driving lessons. Grace's back problems have gotten so bad that even Stevie Ray at the bar notices that she's in pain. She's taking more and more pills and is falling asleep so much that at one point Libby has trouble getting her to wake up. Nadine, Wade, Russell and Jean do a sort of intervention, and Grace reacts angrily and defensively. But when she realizes that Jake, the guy at the bar who's supported her in her pill consumption, is not a shoe salesman as she thought but really a drug dealer, she's so disgusted that she calls Jimmy and tells him she has a problem. Jimmy is completely supportive and promises to be there for her as she works through her prob

Grace tells Quentin that he can't get a driver's license until he improves his grades just as Jimmy arrives driving a 1969 red GTO and announces that he bought the car for Quentin using Quentin's college fund to pay for it. Grace insists that Jimmy has to return the car and get the money back, but Jimmy suggests that maybe Quentin isn't really cut out for college. Quentin says he'll keep a straight A average if Grace will let him keep the car, but Grace won't hear of it. At the car lot Grace encounters Rob, a guy she's dated sporadically, and learns that he's the one that sold Jimmy the car; Rob agrees to resell the car, and Grace agrees to go out with him again. Rob tells Grace he hopes their relationship can move to another level, beyond a mere physical relationship to a committed one. Grace doesn't know how to respond; she tells Nadine she's not sure she wants anything more than what they already have--after all she doesn't have a great track record, but Rob is a smart, multi-facete

Grace brings Rob home to meet her kids just as Nadine announces that the baby's on it's way; Wade's off on an undercover assignment so Grace has to take her to the hospital, leaving Rob alone with Libby and Patrick. Grace and Nadine reminisce about how Nadine was always around when Grace delivered all her kids. Grace flashes back to how Jimmy stole hundreds of dollars worth of toys as presents for Quentin and is caught by the police and how she had to take baby Quentin to the county jail so his dad could see him for the first time. Grace and Nadine arrive at the hospital, and Wade is still nowhere to be found; Grace takes over as Nadine's Lamaze coach. Grace flashes back to when Libby was born and Nadine took her to the hospital because Jimmy wanted to go hunting. Grace tries to coach Nadine, who's in great pain, as Grace remembers when Patrick was born, and again it's Nadine who's with her, not Jimmy. On the way to the delivery room Nadine says she's changed her mind about having this

When Grace isn't invited to Rick's weekend getaway because he has made plans with someone else, Grace decides to go Vegas for the weekend with Jean, Jean wins it big on the slots and Grace finds out she is only lucky for other people and not herself

Grace gets a new job at an advertising company and shockingly, her misery brings something new and improved.