Katie's mother Kathryn (Wendie Malick) shows up for Thanksgiving, and typically wants to be the center of attention. Just prior, Katie met with Anna-Kat's teacher, who said Anna-Kat is more anxious than normal, and Katie realizes her own anxiety over her mother is affecting her daughter. Also, an unwanted guest (Viv) crashes the Otto family Thanksgiving.

When Katie's mom, Kathryn, comes to town, Katie and Kathryn encourage the kids to make less than favorable decisions: Oliver cheats in shop class and Katie helps him try to get out of it, while Kathryn reassures Taylor that she doesn't need to go to college.

After the previous “fattest housewife” in Westport gets plastic surgery to lose weight, Chloe Brown Mueller rubs it in Katie’s face that Katie has now assumed that title. In order to get revenge on Chloe, Katie goes through great lengths to dig up bad photos of Chloe from high school.

After discovering that the four digit pin code the Otto family uses for everything spells out Greg’s ex-girlfriend’s name, Katie gets upset and retaliates by dragging out old gifts from past boyfriends. Meanwhile, the kids’ current love lives take a hit as Taylor and Trip argue over her relationship with Pierce; and Oliver and Gina’s relationship goes south when they both apply for a ballet scholarship that only one of them gets.

Katie lands the perfect pawn to play on the insecurities of the Westport housewives when she convinces a hot young trophy wife named Harper to volunteer as room mom for Anna-Kat’s class, but she quickly shifts gears when Harper rejects Anna-Kat’s idea for movie night. Meanwhile, Greg enlists the help of the kids to get Katie’s mom, Kathryn, to take an interest in someone other than herself.

As Oliver and Taylor stumble through their love lives, Katie begins to miss the spontaneity and unpredictability of being young and in love. Meanwhile, Kathryn’s plan to soothe Oliver’s heartbreak backfires when she tracks down an old boyfriend, Dan, and he is not as she remembers. At the same time, Anna-Kat makes strides at school when Franklin is stuck at home with the chickenpox, forcing her to make a new friend.

Katie strives to keep her long-separated parents apart when her father, Marty, arrives in time to surprise the Otto family for Christmas. Anna-Kat does her best to help Trip win Taylor back but has a hard time getting past a very persistent Pierce. Meanwhile, Oliver thinks no one will remember him as the mask-wearing villain in the school’s production of “The Nutcracker” but quickly takes center stage when a series of mishaps damages his costume.

When Katie gets sick, Greg enlists Kathryn's help in taking care of the kids, but Kathryn leaves the kids to fend for themselves while she entertains an old high school boyfriend. Meanwhile, Taylor gets a taste of her own medicine when she tries to help an unruly Katie.