Jim buys a digital camera from one of Dana's ex-boyfriends, and it comes with stored pictures of the woman he dumped Dana for. Cheryl thinks it will make Dana feel better if she saw how ugly the new girl is, but Jim simply deletes the pictures because they weren't important enough for him. They start a fight about what's important to each one of them and Cheryl hides his new camera. Jim tries to get back at her, unsuccessfully. When Kyle starts to take his first steps, the camera is nowhere to be found and the moment is lost forever. That's when Cheryl realizes her actions didn't do any good. They make up and agree on paying more attention to what's important to each other.

Dana needs to buy a new car and Cheryl offers to go with her, but Jim says chicks are no good buying car by themselves, because they'll get distracted with other less important things like mirrors or cup holders. Offended, Cheryl is determined to prove Jim wrong and actually gets Dana a car for a fair deal, but the car soon breaks down. Jim takes over the situation and goes down the dealership to manly handle the situation. The only thing he wasn't counting on was a very seductive female manager, who convinces Jim to trade in his minivan for a brand new sports car. Cheryl and Dana try to undo the deal, but they have no luck either. Jim and Andy return determined to overcome Gretchen's looks, but Mike Ditka's presence ruins it for them.

Cheryl wants to be friends with the new couple who just moved into the neighborhood. She has to be fast and do it before they talk to anyone else and get scared of them. After lending Janet the baby monitor, Cheryl schedules dinner with the new couple and has a hard time convincing Jim to go. When they get home back from the dinner, Cheryl is thrilled that it all went very well, and they're surprised when the baby monitor picks up Ted and Janet's conversation from their bedroom. The entire family gets addicted to eavesdropping on the couple, and Jim accidentally slips Ted's nickname for his penis. The new couple is outraged, and it takes Jim to make up a story about a homosexual experience he had in college to even the score and not lose their new friends.

Jim's pizza delivery boy moves in with him and Cheryl after the boy's father kicks him out of the house because of his dream of doing standup comedy.

Jim asks Cheryl not to intrude his space in the bathroom sink and in their closet, claiming she takes up too much space, and worse, HIS space. Cheryl tries to do something about by getting rid of some of her stuff, but Dana tells her it's time for women everywhere to show men they also have a need for space. Therefore, instead of doing what Jim asked her to, Cheryl buys even more clothes to jam up the closet. As a revenge, Jim decides to decorate their room in his own way. That starts a feud between them, until Jim falls down from the attic on their bed, breaking through the ceiling. He tells Cheryl that he needs his own space, and not because her stuff annoys him, but because he has the need to feel safe from the world sometimes. They settle their feud and agree on respecting each other's spaces.

Jim is taking the girls to their first Bears football game, and Cheryl asks him to be a good role model and try his best not to swear in front of them. At the game, Jim picks a fight with a Packers fan who was swearing in front of the girls, and the entire fight is televised, with Jim getting the nickname of "Packers Smacker". He finds glory with such nickname, but Cheryl doesn't like it at all. It only hits Jim the effects his actions might have on his children when Ruby hits Gracie in the nose. Jim has to have a talk with Ruby and hear Cheryl says that the next time he finds himself in a situation like on the football game, that he should just think what she would do and do it. But Jim finds redemption when Gracie refuses to eat sundae fudge because she thinks her butt's too big something Cheryl was saying around the house not too long ago.

Dana gets selected to be on the reality show The Bachelor. At first she's sure her personality alone will be enough to entertain the guy, but Jim gives her advice on how to behave and what to say to the guy. Dana thinks he's full of crap, but after her date goes bad she tries Jim's recipe and scores a second date. She arranges with Cheryl to bring the bachelor over to their house for dinner, and Cheryl couldn't be more thrilled to be on national television with a remodeled house. Jim is also very proud that Dana only got so far thanks to him, but the situation quickly takes an unexpected turn when Jim accidentally overhears the bachelor saying Dana will be easy to bring to bed and then he'll dump her. Now he goes out of his way to save Dana and ends up scaring the guy away with stories about Dana being a psycho. Later he explains to her his behavior and says she'll meet someone who's good enough for her.

Cheryl drags Jim down to the church for the new reverend's mess, which is supposed to be "the next best thing". Jim sees some familiarity on him, and remembers he was the kid he played dodge-ball with back when they were kids. Jim also remembers that he threw the ball so hard at the guy he got a fat lip (and a funny nickname) for weeks (the nickname lasted for years). When Cheryl invites the reverend over for dinner, Jim freaks out, hoping he won't remember a thing. But Jim's hopes go down the drain when the reverend confronts him and later quits the church, giving his inability to forgive Jim as a reason. Feeling guilty, Jim apologizes and even takes on Gracie and Ruby's advice on offering Reverend Pierson a chance to throw a dodge-ball back at him.

Cheryl is thrilled when she is offered to be in charge of the set of the girls's Thanksgiving school play. She asks Jim to help her, and he's complaining they don't spend any time together because there's always someone around them. When they finally get alone on the set, they decide to be a little wild and do it behind the Plymouth rock. Unfortunately, Andy and the PTA president walk in on them. They promise to keep it quiet, but Jim and his big mouth brag about it with a divorced father who criticized married life. When Jim and Cheryl's sexual adventures are spread around the PTA board, Cheryl is fired from her set duties, and Jim, feeling guilty about it, stays up all night to finish the job for Cheryl.

Jim's feud with a neighbor may also prompt one with Cheryl, who preaches peace so they'll be invited to the neighbors' Christmas party.

Eddie, a country musician who's dating Dana, comes between Jim and his brother-in-law Andy. After hearing Jim and Andy's band practice, Eddie invites them to perform with him at the House of Blues. The catch: Eddie plays keyboards instead of Andy. An excited Jim accepts anyway and hopes to keep the gig a secret from Andy, who, of course, finds out. Encouraged by his sisters, the left-out architect decides to even the score by exploring new business horizonswithout his contractor-partner Jim.

Jim takes advantage of a billing error on his credit card by using the windfall to treat Cheryl to an expensive romantic weekend.

Jim's old friend Danny visits him, and brings his partner in crime, Laraine, with him. Cheryl and Dana offer to help Laraine pick out a dress for the police ball, and after realizing she has feelings for Danny, Cheryl convinces Jim to talk to Danny about asking her to the ball. Cheryl reveals to Jim that if it wasn't for Danny, they might never have gotten together, as they remember the time they met at a bar back in the 80's. But when Danny finally has the guts to talk to Laraine, he finds out that Andy already asked her out. Dana asks why can't she be Danny's date, since she made out with Cheryl's boyfriend the night she met Jim just so he would get out of the way. They all try to convince Andy to step aside what could be true love, but Andy reminds them of how he pretended to have a heart attack just so Jim would get rid of his girlfriend the night he met Cheryl. Finally, Andy agrees to help Danny and Laraine, as Jim and Cheryl conclude that despite all the help they got they still would have met.

Jim's old friend Danny visits him, and brings his partner in crime, Laraine, with him. Cheryl and Dana offer to help Laraine pick out a dress for the police ball, and after realizing she has feelings for Danny, Cheryl convinces Jim to talk to Danny about asking her to the ball. Cheryl reveals to Jim that if it wasn't for Danny, they might never have gotten together, as they remember the time they met at a bar back in the 80's. But when Danny finally has the guts to talk to Laraine, he finds out that Andy already asked her out. Dana asks why can't she be Danny's date, since she made out with Cheryl's boyfriend the night she met Jim just so he would get out of the way. They all try to convince Andy to step aside what could be true love, but Andy reminds them of how he pretended to have a heart attack just so Jim would get rid of his girlfriend the night he met Cheryl. Finally, Andy agrees to help Danny and Laraine, as Jim and Cheryl conclude that despite all the help they got they still would have met.

Cheryl disapproves of Jim's latest idea, a flatulent doll named Gassy Gus, but he gets support from Andy, who builds the protoype, and Dana, who locates investors.

When Cheryl gets sick on the day of Ruby's birthday party, Jim is stuck trying to entertain a house full of little girls.

When Jim and Cheryl run into his old girlfriend, Jim worries that Cheryl may find out the truth about his past when she invites the woman to dinner.

Cheryl is mugged at the mall parking lot, but instead of calling the police she chases the guy and tackles him to get her purse bag. When she tells Jim what happened, he decides to get two hugger German shepherd to guard her. Cheryl doesn't like the idea, especially because the dogs are trained in German. One night, when the girls and Kyle are sleeping over at Dana's, Jim and Cheryl get locked into the bathroom after they mistakenly order the dogs to attack them and don't know how to order them to stop. The solution? Give the dogs drowsy medication. After that, Jim and Cheryl acknowledge that they could actually lose each other and start being warmer with one another.

Cheryl's upset when a wealthy client, a former high school buddy of Jim's, makes a pass at her, but it's Jim's reaction that she's upset about.

When Jim vociferously objects to the way Dana gets treated by her boss, he succeeds in getting her fired. Meanwhile, Andy has problems with the plans for his birthday party.

Cheryl has to have dental surgery and asks Jim to stay besides her the whole time because she's scared of dentists. While Cheryl is sedated, Andy shows up saying he met blues legend Bo Diddley and Jim decides to meet him too, leaving Cheryl unattended. There's no harm since she's sedated, he justifies. But Cheryl finds out when Bo Diddley sends Jim a thank you basket with edible goodies and Jim confesses. They have a fight and the next day Cheryl goes out to the movies, leaving Jim in charge of the kids. Coincidentally, tickets for Bo Diddley's concert arrive at the house, but Jim wonders if that's some of Cheryl's tests. He goes but changes his mind and return to his kids at home.

Cheryl makes friends with another mom from the girls soccer team. The woman is sweet, yet a bit obnoxious. Jim is annoyed by her presence, but Cheryl insists on him being nice to her. Little by little, Cindy starts to get into their lives and tell them what to do and not to do. Jim ends up buying a hot tub from her husband, thinking that might drive them away, but instead it only pulls them closer. They show up unexpectedly on the tub, which is the final drop for Jim. He tells Cheryl it's time for her to come clean and confess to Cindy that they don't like her. Just when she finally does that, Cindy's husband offers Jim season tickets for the Bears. In order to undo the break up he asked Cheryl to do, Jim tells Cindy that Cheryl is under medication for mood swings and that he's willing to do them anything. They move in for a week, while Cheryl decides to take some time off at her sister's "for mental health".

Pretending to be a man for an online auction, Cheryl discovers that Jim is bidding on memorabilia instead of shopping for a new dryer, but Jim thinks he's found a kindred spirit.

A trained bird flies into Andy's head in the backyard and Gracie adopts it as her bird pet, Daphne. The bird is driving everyone insane and they all can't wait to get rid of it, but unfortunately Gracie developed a deep emotional attachment to it. When someone leaves the window opened and the bird flies out in the middle of the night, Jim and Andy team up to go look for it at the park the next morning. When they spot the bird, their first reaction is not to tell Gracie, but Jim doesn't want to lie to his daughter anymore. Later, the real owner show up at the house and Gracie is forced to say goodbye to her feathered friend. Or is the thought of running away to Mexico more appealing than that?

Dana gets attention from a single father she meets in the park by pretending to be Ruby's mother. Meanwhile, Cheryl requests that Jim exercise more often - as a special favor to her.

Cheryl is suspicious of her recently widowed mother's new fiance, but Jim and Andy think he's great.

Jim and Andy are going to Vegas on a business trip and ask Dana to join them, since they need an extra help and she happens to be their "rabbit's foot" on gambling. Cheryl decides to join them and blackmails Jim when he says no at first. Cheryl has been secretly in touch with Jim's estranged sister Roxanne and plans for them to meet in Vegas. When they get there, Jim is not pleased to see his sister and tells Cheryl that no matter what she said he's sure she hasn't changed at all. Roxanne says she needs 2.000 dollars to start her business, which Jim takes as the first step on her plan, but Roxanne won't take either his or Cheryl's money. Instead, she gets it from her new husband: Andy, who has fallen head over heels for her and married her while the rest of the family was watching a show.

Andy is upset because no one approves or believes in his marriage to Roxanne. Jim goes to talk to her and walks in on her packing to run off with her ex boyfriend. He tries to stop her, unsuccessfully. Jim and Cheryl try to break the news to Andy before the business presentation, but he's so upset that he breaks down in tears on stage. While consoling Andy, Jim forgets about the foam hose and foam just floods the stage. Jim and Cheryl stroll in Las Vegas, glad that Andy is finally recovering from Roxanne and glad that their trip is over.