Sally has a new boyfriend and Dick has a new friend: Don. Meanwhile, Harry goes to school.

Dick decides to "rehabilitate" one of Officer Don's prisoners, so he pays his fine and takes him home; Mary decides to give away the dog Dick gave her.

Sally's been reading romance novels, and decides to try out her fantasies on Don; Dick thinks the college cafeteria's cashier hates him; Harry receives surprising results on his GED exam.

As 1998 comes to close, Dick worries that he hasn't accomplished anything worthwhile and struggles to do something to make the past year count. Meanwhile, Officer Don becomes annoyed with Sally after she uses her feminine wiles to persuade him to get tickets for Rutherford's exclusive Starlight Room, then changes her mind when he succeeds. At Happy Doug's bar, Harry and Tommy plan an explosive New Year's party and Harry hires on his old night school friends, Larry and Mrs. Deguzman, but they turn out to be layabouts.