Eli takes pity on Phil's latest get-rich-quick scheme; Warren, Mark and Jimmy create a hilarious Ed and Carol tribute video for the rehearsal dinner, but Shirley is the one who really brings down the house with a special song; Mike feels a little lost as the best man in the face of the extensive groomsman experience and contacts displayed by Ed's cousin Mitch; Molly opens the door when a possible opportunity comes knocking; Ed gets a behind-the-scenes inspiration for a wedding day $10 bet from a surprising source; Ed and Carol hatch some truly hairbrained ideas in their quest for the appropriate theme for their wedding until Ed's inspiration leads them to the perfect place to start the next phase of their lives.

At the same time Ed receives a visit and a job offer from his old collegue, Carol invites him to the Stuckeyville HS junior prom; To avoid the embarrassement of not having a date, Warren seeks out an escort service; Phil attempts a string of comical practical jokes to get on a TV show.

Ed Stevens has just been fired for misplacing a comma in a 500 page contract, which cost his law firm employer millions of dollars. When he arrives home to give his wife the bad news, he finds her in bed with the mailman. He decides to pack it all in and head back to his hometown of Stuckeyville, Ohio. When he runs into Carol Vessey, the girl of his high school dreams who is now an English teacher at Stuckeyville High School, he decides to stick around and purchase the local bowling alley, where he sets up a law practice.

Ed defends a secretary being sued over a payroll error; Carol decides that she and Nick have to end their relationship; Mike is reviewed by his superior; Molly selects talent over beauty in casting the school play.

A brush with death inspires a local man to change his life and do things he's never done before such as scale a wall, bowl naked, and go out with Molly. Meanwhile, Ed tries to recapture his youth by doing things he did when he was 18, and Warren becomes inspired by Thoreau's call to ""simplify"".

Carol's childhood diaries prove useful when the town's premier magician, Stuckeyville Stan, sues a competitor for revealing his secrets; Nancy becomes threatened by the baby's nanny.

The return of former high football star, Troy McCallum, brings out feelings of resentment in both Ed and Carol. Meanwhile Ed tries to help high school student Warren, whose nerd vs. jock conflict mirrors his own.

As Carol and Ed are finally seeing Liz off, they get mugged, leading Ed to question whether he could have prevented it; Russ pays Mike and Nancy a visit after his wife kicks him out for cheating; Phil sets up a ridiculous and elaborate security system in the aftermath of the robbery; Kate offers Eli another gig at the radio station, but Jennifer isn't happy about Eli's spending time away from her; Liz's continued presence in Stuckeyville as a result of the mugging begins to wear mightily on Carol, so Ed asks Liz to leave; after Kate is fired for backing up his decision not to grant a listener's request, Eli devises a scheme to get her rehired, which dovetails nicely with Russ's plan to win back his wife's affections.

Ed goes up against his old law firm in a case involving four friends who wrote up a contract on a bar napkin. At the same time, he must pick a manager for Stuckeybowl and deal with being ""just friends"" with Carol. Nancy and Mike fuss over who takes care of the baby at night.

Ed and Carol stumble through the first days of their changed relationship; Mike and Nancy have their hands full with a new puppy and its dishonest breeder; Eli is bewitched by an attractive and talented pie maker.

With only a few days left until Christmas, Ed's getting ready to move back to New York with Carol, however an unexpected "friend" returns from Ed's past. In the meantime, Mike and Nancy are anxious to get back into their home in time for Christmas, and Mr. Hagadorn's annual Christmas yard display is under attack from a neighbor.

Carol shocks Ed by announcing that she is leaving Stuckeyville to become a writer; Ed concocts Stuckeyville's first-ever Festival of Ducks to boost the town's reputation; Phil becomes mentor to a young bowler.

Ed and Carol finds themselves on opposite sides when he represents a gym coach who is flunking one of her best students; Dr. Jerome continues to humiliate Mike; Shirley starts working as Ed's legal clerk.

After a former student encourages Carol to interview for a writing job at the magazine where he works, she sets out for New York City, accompanied by Ed; at Molly's request, Warren and Mark escort a new student around school and find that the new kid isn't the only one with something to learn; Carol is sent out to complete a test assignment and does so well that she's offered a full-time writing position; Dr. Jerome and his granddaughter do a little stealth psychological testing on Mike; after some reflection, Carol decides to accept the job offer and relocate to New York City.

Ed is planning an elaborate proposal in New York, but when Carol returns to Stuckeyville to find out how they stand, he must come up with another plan. Mike's parents visit and his dad drives Mike crazy. Plus he wants to deep fry the turkey. Eli, afraid, that Jenny will date someone else, arranges a charity Thanksgiving dinner at StuckeyBowl and enlists her help.

The first weeks of the new relationship between Ed and Carol are seen through the lens of his cousin Benny, who's filming a documentary for his final film school project; when Carol's lease is up, she and Ed decide to move in together; while mugging for the camera, their friends comment on Ed and Carol, and the nature of romantic relationships in general; as time goes on, and familiarity begins to breed indifference and conflict, Ed learns an important lesson about relationships from his high school driver's ed teacher and Carol gets a crucial insight into Ed from Mike; Molly teaches Warren a lesson about punking one-upmanship.

When Molly's grandfather hires Ed to write his will, he ends up revealing a shocking secret;; Mike has a new rival at the doctor's office; Phil hosts an open-mike night at Stuckeybowl.

Ed locks horns with a sassy new D.A. while defending a man charged with breaking the law by putting dimes in parking meters; Molly chides Carol for taking Ed's attention for granted; Phil searches for his own personal catch phrase; Nancy must decide whether she wants to accept a promotion at work.

Ed represents a golfer suing a fan who shouted out while he was making an easy putt-thus costing him the win; Warren can't decide whether to ask reliable Donna or dream-girl Jessica to the prom.

Mike and Nancy devise a series of bizarre tests to determine which of their friends would make the best guardian for Sarah if anything were to happen to them; Phil creates the perfect farewell of a 21 pin salute for an eccentric customer who breathes his last at Stuckeybowl; Molly meets an adventurous new man who literally sweeps her off her feet and into the air; Ed represents a man being sued by his father for the cost of his undergraduate and dental school tuition after he quits his internship because he hates being a dentist.

Afraid that their relationship won't survive if they live apart, Ed decides to join Carol in New York and puts Stuckeybowl up for sale; feeling that he's losing his best friend, Mike tries unsuccessfully to make a new one; after Ed's client wins an arbitration that prevents his long-time friend from dissolving their partnership, Ed urges him to think both inside and outside the box to discover a solution that works for both of them; Molly comes to crossroads in her relationships, and realizes that neither Sean nor Ted is the right man for her; even though Ed guarantees that they will not lose their jobs, the crew at Stuckeybowl pulls some pathetic stunts to sabotage the sale until Ed decides to make them Stuckeybowl's new owners; Warren sees Carol off in high style; at their going-away party, Carol realizes that she shouldn't tear Ed away from Stuckeyville, so they agree that she'll go to New York and Ed will rack up frequent flyer miles visiting her.

Ed handles a case involving a man being fired if he doesn't make a fish ""sing""; Mike believes the Burton's new nanny has a crush on him; the Stuckeybowl staff tries to come up with ideas to drum up business.

To ensure that Stuckeybowl outlasts him, Ed seeks to have it declared an historical landmark. Meanwhile in court, he reprresents a man overcharged for a placebo pill; Jeff causes friction between Molly and Carol.

Ed & Mike buy a racehorse. Carol faces trouble with the school board and Molly when she suggests to Warren that college may not be for him. Warren pursues his dream of being a TV host on local cable access.

Several Stuckeyville stalwarts seek a sympathetic ear to help them resolve relationship roadblocks: Ed sees out a therapist with a unique background to help him deal with his new long-distance relationship; Eli uses his physical therapist as a sounding board about the possibility of a future romance with Jennifer; Molly gets some expert guidance counseling from Nancy about her flirtation with an unlikely suitor.