The aliens become sick for the first time and assume they are dying. Despite being unwell, Dick accompanies Mary to a wedding, where he tries in vain to hide his ill health from her. However, after drinking too much cough syrup and making a scene at the service and the reception, Mary takes him home. Believing he does not have much time left, he tells her he loves her.

Sally has her first date, but becomes upset when he does not call her back afterwards. In an effort to console her, Dick asks Mary and Nina to take Sally out and drown her sorrows.

Dick discovers smoking and becomes addicted. Sally gets annoyed that Dick ignores her complaints and wishes he did not have authority over her. When Dick accidentally locks himself in a stairwell while trying to find a place to smoke, Sally declares herself High Commander. (Absent: Jane Curtin as Mary)

When an old boyfriend of Mary's (played by Ed Begley Jr.) reappears, Dick experiences jealousy.

When Mary goes on vacation, Dick misses her badly. Desperate to find her, he takes Nina out for dinner and pumps her for details on Mary's location. When this fails, he breaks into Mary's house.

Sally and Harry become addicted to skin care products which promise them eternal youth.

An obnoxious professor (John Mahoney) dies during a party in his honor and his will states that he wants Dick to deliver a "forthright and honest" eulogy despite his being universally disliked.

Dick wants his family to get along and thinks they can learn family values from observing Dr. Albright and her loopy brother Roy (Bronson Pinchot), so he invites them to dinner. The Solomons panic when Roy claims to have been abducted by aliens.

Dick discovers the consequences of telling the truth when he repeats Mary's comments about how boring the Academic Committee is at one of their meetings. Mary is annoyed and enlightens Dick to the concept of 'bending the truth'.

Harry cannot find anything at which he excels, but after painting the side of Mrs. Dubcek's house, decides to take an art class. Dick becomes annoyed when Harry turns out to be much better at art than he is.

When Mary and Dick board a plane to Chicago, Dick panics and gets the pair thrown off. While driving to Chicago, it begins to snow. Dick panics again, believing the flakes to be aliens. He commandeers the car and crashes it, leaving the pair stranded at a truck stop.

Harry gets a job in a video store and takes it upon himself to rearrange the videos according to his personal preferences.

When Nina informs Dick she is unable to locate his graduate records, he panics and acts defensively. Mary notes that Dick is often secretive about his past and, while reminiscing about her rebellious time as a student at Berkeley in the 1960s, concludes he is Manny Rosenberg, an activist whom she knew briefly. Dick first denies this, but quickly assumes Rosenberg's identity when he realizes it makes Mary more attracted to him.

Dick feels excluded from the others in his office because he is male and asks Mary and Nina if he may join them at a women-only study group. When they decline, Dick attends the meeting dressed as a woman and introduces himself as Dickie Jo.

When Sally and Harry get jobs at a pancake house, Sally becomes irritated at the lack of tips.

When Nina wears an African headdress to work, Dick realizes the Solomons have no ethnic affiliation and does research to determine which group is "best". He is about to give up his search when Mrs. Dubcek casually mentions that she assumes the family is Jewish because of their surname.

After their car radio is stolen and Dick is mugged at an ATM, Sally worries she is failing at her job as Security Officer. When the family goes to file a police report, Sally meets officer Don (first appearance of Wayne Knight).

Dick decides he should become Harry's father and attempts to treat him as a son. When Harry questions what his role is in the group's mission, Dick reluctantly tells him about the radio receiver that was implanted in Harry's head. Harry becomes angry and runs away from home.

Mary moves to a better office, but Dick misses her and schemes to get her back into the old office with him.

Mary finally agrees to go on a date with Dick. While at a Benihana-style Japanese restaurant, Dick shows off his food-chopping skills after Mary accidentally incapacitates the chef. The pair then returns to Dick's apartment where they have sex.