The Rushes hire an illegal housekeeper with good looks, minimal English, and an urge to become a naturalized citizen.

Henry and Muriel Rush are the owners of a duplex in San Francisco, where they live with their two adult daughters: 21-year-old banker Jackie and 18-year-old college freshman Sara, in a cramped, awkward arrangement. Henry is a cartoonist of a comic strip called Cosmic Cow, while Muriel is a former musician currently working as a photographer. When Henry and Muriel's downstairs tenant, Myron Rafkin, suddenly dies, the family discovers Rafkin was living a secret life as a transvestite, and the many mysterious women Henry had been opening the door for all those years were actually Rafkin himself. Sara comes up with the idea for her and Jackie to convince their parents to let them to move into Rafkin's former apartment. Henry rejects the idea at first, but after Henry interviews a couple of prospective tenants he doesn't approve of, Muriel convinces him that having the girls move in may not be such a bad idea.

Henry's father, Huey breaks out of the nursing home, or rather is thrown out when he has a romantic interlude with another resident. He arrives in San Francisco to stay with Henry but soon his presence sends the household into an uproar. Meanwhile, Jackie debates over whether or not to accept a job offer in New York.

Jackie, who works at a bank, tries to make a money delivery to a supermarket, but finds it closed. After calling her boss, she finds herself in charge of a bag with $100,000 in it. Meanwhile, Muriel and Henry are convinced that the ex-convict plumbers are going to rip them off, but soon Jackie's bag of money enters the fray.

Monroe and Sara decide to help a teenage boy who was going to juvenile hall for stealing. The boy has a history of being abused, and when Henry tries to step in to offer his own help the boy rejects him and runs away.

Just before heading off on a Las Vegas vacation, Henry reluctantly lends $100 to Sara, April, and Monroe so they can start a business selling home-baked cookies using Grandma Rush's recipe. However, a promising and profitable start quickly turns into a disaster that includes a trashed kitchen, hefty fines, a potential lawsuit, and a visit from the immigration service.

Henry's free-spirited niece, April, shows up on his doorstep after moving from Delaware to start a song writing career, and he reluctantly allows her to stay in the guest bedroom of his apartment until she's able to get established. However, their relationship starts off on the wrong foot, and Henry hopes it isn't too late when he finally figures out why.

When Sara gets a part-time job at Jackie's bank, things go smoothly. Jackie quickly warns her of the branch manager, Mr. Wolfe, and his "friendliness" toward the women tellers. However, Jackie quickly finds herself changing her mind about Sara, when Sara begins dating him and then suddenly gets a promotion.

Henry is fired by Mr. Wainwright when he refuses to publish an apology for his recent Cosmic Cow comic strips that poke fun at President Reagan. Rather than face the indignity of taking unemployment compensation, he makes the regrettable decision to pursue his passion for painting and lets Muriel accept an offer for a full time job she doesn't really want.

Henry is not happy with the fact that he has been called in for jury duty. However, things get pressed when Henry's boss, Mr. Wainwright, wanting to avoid any problems associated with a possible strike, orders Henry to cough up next week's comic strip. This forces Henry to stay up all night and leads to him falling asleep in court the next day.

A doctor informs Muriel that she's pregnant after she faints at a restaurant while celebrating her 42nd birthday with her family. While she and Henry are initially elated, they find themselves faced with a serious decision as they begin to realize all of the implications of having another child at this point of their lives.

Monroe has been struggling with the fact he is still a virgin and seeks out a psychologist for help. The psychologist suggests that Monroe hire a sex surrogate to solve his problem, but unfortunate circumstances cause Monroe to mistake Mrs. Rafkin for the surrogate, and the surrogate to mistake Henry for Monroe.

Henry is worried about his job when the new mystery loving boss, Arthur Wainwright, takes over and begins a steady practice of age discrimination. However, things may swing his way, when Muriel invites Arthur over for dinner which quickly embroils him in a quest to find the man who had snatched Sara's purse.

Monroe is kidnapped and raped by two women in a van. When the police dismiss Monroe's story, Henry searches for the rapists himself.

A woman arrives at Sara and Jackie's door accusing Sara of dating her husband. However, the woman has the wrong Rush daughter, Jackie is the one and doesn't see anything wrong with it since they are separated. Still, she begins to feel her relationship coming to an end and quick.

With Sara and Jackie living downstairs, Henry has become a snoop-aholic. Sara asks for permission to go to Lake Tahoe for the weekend, leaving behind birth control pills that Henry assumes is hers and Jackie lets her navy boyfriend spend the night, causing Henry to hit the roof.

Jackie and Sara have split the cost of rent but when Sara is unable to pay her half, Henry tells her to go out and get a job. Sara easily gets a job as a waitress, but Henry is in no way thrilled with the skimpy costume that she has to wear. This leads to a blow up between Henry and Muriel leading her to move in with Jackie and Sara.

Lisa is overjoyed when she wins $5 and becomes addicted to playing.

Sara agrees to go on a blind date with a man that Muriel had set her up with. To everyone's amazement, Bob is gorgeous. After several dates, Bob and Sara make plans to move in together, which Henry is totally against.

After Henry breaks his arm, his boss sends a young artist to help keep up with his deadlines. The young artist is cocky, abrasive, and very good which upsets Henry.

Henry eagerly sets Sara up with a major league baseball star. Sara begrudgingly agrees to one date but ends up falling for him. Henry's enthusiasm quickly wanes after he finds out about the star's past drug use and worries it may not be in the past.

Henry runs into his cantankerous former Navy commander who is now a doorman. Despite their antagonizing relationship, Henry invites him to dinner as a way of burying the hatchet. His significant other throws Henry for a loop.

Henry suffers from a case of writer's block. Surprisingly, Mrs. Rafkin ends up being extremely helpful.

Henry's father visits to ask if he will be his best man at his upcoming wedding. The happy news is dampened by Henry's suspicions of his father's much younger fiancée.

The Rush's home is scheduled for demolition by the city in order to build a new subway station

Sara auditions for an anchor position at the station and thinks she's a shoo-in next to her plain Jane competition.

Jackie is envious of Sara's many dates, so she decides to get breast implants to make herself more attractive.

The Rushes rent their newly built apartment to Monroe

Henry is shocked to find his friend is marrying a much younger woman.

Henry is upset with Monroe after he accidentally damages the living room wall while hanging a self-portrait of Henry. He chases Monroe out the door, causing him to fall down a flight of stairs. While Monroe is sent to the hospital, Henry is racked with guilt after his conscience starts speaking to him through the portrait.

Iris' gift of a trip to Paris backfires when Muriel needs a passport and her birth certificate reveals she was adopted.

An attractive messenger, after being out all night, passes out in the Rush's bedroom leaving Henry and Monroe to think fast on how to get her out of the house before Muriel gets home.

Sara is upset that Henry only supports and celebrates Jackie's accomplishments so she poses for a men's magazine.

Jackie has an argument with her fiance over her working after they're married which prompts Henry, Muriel, and Iris to separately recount an incident that nearly broke up the Rush couple.

Iris falls in love with a man who she believes is highly successful.

Muriel's famous old singing partner comes for a visit prompting Muriel to wonder "what if" she never stopped performing.

Henry has to get a physical for a life insurance policy.

Henry gives Monroe advice on how to land a woman (or so he thinks) who refuses to go out with him.

Jackie has been offered a job working at The House of Aldo, an Italian designer, but she doesn't tell her father about it. She invites Senor Aldo to the house without telling Henry who he is. When the man tells Henry he wants Jackie for his House, Henry thinks he's a dirty old man so he throws him out. Later, he is told the truth. Jackie can't believe what Henry did so she decides to move out. Henry calls the man and tries to apologize. He asks him to give Jackie a chance, but Aldo doesn't think it would be good for Jackie because of how overprotective he is.

Jackie falls madly in love with a police officer who responds to a false burglary report at the apartment due to April sneaking in late one night after getting stuck on Alcatraz with her boyfriend. She immediately accepts his marriage proposal after just a few dates, refusing her parents' plea to consider the difficulties of being a police wife.

Henry decides to work at a downtown office, due to life at home getting crazier, but it turns out there were more distractions downtown than he bargained for.

Henry, Muriel and Monroe move to Mill Valley, CA. The Rushes buy a new home. Henry bought a 49% share in a newspaper with a demanding 51% owner. Monroe is now his assistant and Muriel his photographer.

Henry rallies behind two rock musicians who were banned from performing at a local music festival.

An older man dressed like a bum shows up at the Rushes' doorstep looking for the transvestite persona of Rafkin, their deceased former tenant, because they always got together for Thanksgiving dinner. Feeling bad for him for several obvious reasons, they invite him to join their own disastrous get together, and later find out that he too has a big secret that involves his appearance.

Muriel unwisely commits herself to do a coveted helicopter photo shoot, which Henry demands she cancel due to her pregnancy. The back and forth fighting cause a big headache for the girls, who are forced to change their minds several times whether to cancel an elaborate surprise 25th anniversary party they had previously scheduled.

Henry is going up the wall with April keeping such late hours, spending time with her latest boyfriend. However, Henry and Muriel are in for a shock when they discover her boyfriend, Don is old enough to be her father. Henry puts his foot down and that's when Don asks April to move in with him, which she gladly accepts.

A fan of Henry's Cosmic Cow comic strip who has been sending him increasingly bizarre fan mail breaks into the apartment one night through the unlocked front door, kidnapping his puppet and vowing in a note to return before the end of the weekend. Interpreting the note as a threat on his life, Henry and Monroe set up a stakeout at the apartment with the help of a police officer, who abruptly leaves them to fend for themselves when he is called away.

April secretly arranges for her father Bill to meet face to face with his brother Henry, so they can attempt to reconcile after a petty childhood dispute caused them to stop speaking forty years ago. The effort may be for naught, however, when Bill eats a piece of cheesecake baked by Monroe, who did not realize it was an old Russian recipe for homemade poisoned rat bait.

Henry is contacted by a rival cartoonist who has perpetrated several practical jokes on him over the years, and Henry schemes with Monroe to pay him back during a dinner visit. However, when Henry is unable to stop the prank after the man claims he is dying, Henry feels obligated to assist him in an elaborate plan to cheat on his wife.

Upon realizing the birth of his third child is only six weeks away, Henry feels a sense of guilt for not spending enough time with his two daughters. He decides to invite them on a weekend ski trip, but the experience doesn't turn out quite the way he envisioned when the girls meet a couple of brothers and he discovers that Monroe packed the wrong suitcase in the car.

Muriel secretly asks her mother Iris stay with her until she recovers from childbirth, much to the chagrin of Henry, who has always found her to be overbearing. When Muriel unexpectedly takes a stand against her mother's nonstop criticism, it's up to Henry to straighten out the mess, and he learns a big secret about Muriel in the process.

Henry's generous offer to arrange a job interview for an attractive art student backfires when she begins showing affection for him, which puts him in the doghouse with an increasingly insecure Muriel and causes him to panic when Monroe tells him that she tried to jump out a window after her last break up. Henry and Muriel also host a Lamaze class in their apartment, which turns out to be a bad idea.

April's father sends her his baby grand piano, and she takes up Monroe's offer to move it into the apartment with the help of a large friend for $20. This proves to be a big mistake when everyone gets trapped in the apartment just as Muriel begins feeling labor pains and Henry's just-married friend becomes desperate to be reunited with his bride.

Henry threatens to move out when Muriel's mother says she's moving in.

Iris is feeling depressed. When she doesn't show up at the Rush's everyone is worried.

Jackie invites a sweet old Santa home for Christmas, which prompts Henry to think the worst of him.

Andrew's hungry and his nursing mother is at work, so Henry takes the baby to the photo session.

Monroe's father comes for a visit.

Henry's cartoonist friend suggests donating his early work to a college with the hopes of being awarded an honorary doctorate - and a guaranteed tax break.

Monroe asks if a friend could spend a week with him, but neglects to tell Henry the friend is female and a runaway. When Henry runs into her in the middle of the night, the jig is up.

Monroe gets a computer and wins big in the stock market and horse racing thanks to computer tips. Soon after, Henry wants in on the action.

Henry almost misses an important meeting with his boss because the guard dog Monroe agrees to watch overnight, traps him in the kitchen.

Jackie and Sara return from a Hawaiian vacation with their grandmother Iris. Jackie fell in love with her surfing instructor and plans to marry him. Henry is opposed to the union until he finds out that he's not just a beach bum.

After Muriel's camera is stolen at a gallery opening, her attempts at retrieving it lead Henry to think she's having an affair.

Muriel's biological mother writes asking to meet. Despite being angry and bitter, Jackie and Sara convince Muriel to meet her.

Iris visits in order to meet up with the Lothario who broke her heart. He lures her there with the premise to ask her "a very important question.

Muriel's best friend, Sylvia, is recently divorced and enjoying every minute of her new life and loves. Muriel is envious of her freedom and decides to start working again to gain a little of her own. Her new male client is very complimentary and throws her for a loop.

Jackie considers a move to Dallas to find a job in fashion. That is, until she meets Sara's date and they hit it off. Sara and Jackie's relationship is tested.

Henry considers taking a job in New York City when a new, younger executive takes over at Wainwright Publishing.

After his father's death, Henry decides it's time to plan his own funeral. He soon starts to examine his life decisions.

Andrew might be a genius and is recruited by a school for gifted children.

Budgets are tight throughout the Rush household. Henry coaches Monroe to ask for a raise at work, but the coaching backfires and Monroe is fired. Henry works overtime to find Monroe a new job.

The Rushes' friend Paul pretends to be a member of their family to impress his long-lost son.

Jackie drops a bomb on Henry and Muriel when she announces that she wants to become a single mother.

Henry and Muriel end up in counseling thanks to the strain of helping another couple settle a squabble.

Muriel considers cosmetic surgery to revive Henry's interest in her.