Eric's no-nonsense father, John ""The Colonel"" (guest star Peter Graves) returns when he learns an array of problems in the Camden household. Mary is jealous of a new member of the basketball team who is getting a lot of the attention. Lucy's declining grades are due to her hanging around with a bad crowd, while Ruthie needs to copy Simon in his quest to be a magician. Meanwhile, Eric is oblivious to all of the family troubles around him as he's preoccupied with writing a sermon that is to be covered by a camera crew. Meanwhile, Annie is doing all the chores at home and at church alone while everyone else is doing their own thing.

Convinced that she'll fail in her basketball comeback, Mary develops a horrible attitude making her quite unpleasant. Eric laments that Mary never talks to him anymore. Lucy is excited over the prospect of her best friend Suzanne coming to visit, until she learns the girl ran away from home. Afraid of his science teacher, Mrs. Hunter, Simon loses his confidence in his ability to complete a class project and feigns illness to avoid it. Also, Ruthie is fearful of her first field trip thinking that she'll get lost from the group.

Eric's old Rock & Roll band has come to town for a small concert, although he is suspicious about their possible drug habit. The band is staying at the Camden home--- they have parked their trailer on the front lawn. Meanwhile, Simon starts to drink coffee and becomes very addicted. Lucy continues to be on the phone constantly talking to her boyfriend Jordan while Ruthie is constantly chewing gum. Also, Mary finds out that one of her friends from the basketball team, Diane, is taking natural pills to boost her energy and that everyone else on the team is taking them. Mary then decides to take a few pills herself when overhearing Matt in a conversation about his bottle of natural pills. Eric then yells at Matt when finding pills in his room. Matt says that he got it from a friend, but he didn't take any yet.

Mary then tells her father that she got the same pills from her friend Diane. When Eric tries to talk to Diane and her father, they do not listen to him. Later that evening, while E