Mary and Lucy selfishly make Matt feel 'guilty' he hasn't moved out yet, although Annie still hopes to keep him home in a garage apartment. They even get Hank to find him a menial morning job in the hospital cafeteria. But Simon feels desert when Matt takes an apartment with John Hamilton. Eric and Annie worry about the Colonel's attitude to Julie's marriage, but the grandparents have gone soft after an around-the-world trip, as George's crazy hairstyle illustrates. But the stress gives already-overworked Eric a mild heart attack.

Robbie remains inconsolable since Mary left with Wilson. The Colonel figures she won't go to college but marry and be a mother to Billy, so he insists on a job, preferably in public service, but he nor Wilson are pleased she opts for the police or fire department. Lucy refuses to explain why she left the New York seminary, apparently after a break-up with Jeremy, and Robbie is parentally dissuaded as consoling company. Annie works out her pre-menopause frustration on Eric, and he takes it out deviously on model student Simon for just a bit of attitude. Matt loses his hospital orderly job, but soon gets another: in a free clinic with mainly teenage and young-adult mothers-to-be.