The Savage family discovers that yet another housekeeper has quit and, while the boys see this as their dad's opportunity to hire a cute French maid, Nick decides it's time his boys learn how to take care of themselves. Stunned, the boys decide that they need a plan to change their dad's mind.

Nick is forced to confront the boys when he finds a pack of cigarettes in the house, and when the guilty party reluctantly owns up to them, he calls Nick on his hypocrisy, as Nick himself smokes cigars. In an effort to convince his son to quit, Nick makes a deal with him that he finds very hard to keep.

It's Halloween, and the Savage boys are trying to figure out what to do for their annual prank. Kyle feels he's too old for trick or treating this year, leaving Nick and T.J. to go it alone. When Chris is forced to dissect a frog in class, he gets the idea – via a spooky visit from the ghost of the late class frog – of just what to do for their prank this year.

Chris is thrilled when he is asked to the "Backwards Dance," in which the girls ask the boys, by Jessica, the hottest girl in school. The only problem is that Jessica is the leader of the dance squad, and Chris – who is a terrible dancer – will have to dance with her in front of the entire school. Meanwhile, there's trouble in paradise when Angela and Sam disagree on plans for the dance; and, in their quest to film each other doing dumb things for an America's Funniest Home Videos-style website, Kyle and T.J. finally drive Nick to the breaking point.

The boys administer their own form of CPR – complete with bicycle pump and toilet plunger – on Old Lady Riley when she has a heart attack on their doorstep, and are then wrongfully lauded as heroes. But when they're awarded the "Caring Kid Award," it's just too much to take for one onlooker who happens to know the truth.