Space limitations prompt Dan and Roseanne to boot Becky and Mark; Dan must shave his armpits to treat a cyst, and Roseanne finds his new look sexually appealing. Jackie moves out when Fred accuses her of smothering the baby; and Roseanne reveals that she has not caught Mark's flu.
The show portrayed a working-class family struggling to get by on a limited income in the fictional town of Lanford, Illinois. Many critics considered the show notable as one of the first sitcoms to portray an American family in which economics necessitated two parents working jobs outside the home.