The holidays take on a whole new meaning for Corky, who's celebrating his first Christmas as a married man-and now how the wishes of a wife and in-laws to consider.

The Thatcher's rise from the ashes of the restaurant: exchange student Becca prepares to take wings for Paris; Paige and Corky go hunting for jobs.

Becca, Libby, and Paige have entered the ""man zone"". They tear down a wall in the Thatcher house to reveal another room, which is then redone (mainly by Paige) to be baby Nick's new room. Momentos from the old room lead to flashback-type scenes that reveal the changing roles of women in American society: Jesse and Becca as 60's hippies, Libby becoming a 50's Avon lady (with the Thatcher's as a 50's family), et al. Libby decides to leave Jerry's advertising firm to deal full-time with Nick. Paige discovers her true calling after finishing Nick's room-- she also wants to be a builder.

Halloween scares up a bad time for all: Libby and Drew at Jerry's big party, Corky at the school masquerade, and Becca who is home alone. The horror movies she's watching start to get to her. The lights go out, an intruder breaks in- it turns out to be Tyler. Confusion abounds.

The Thatcher's toast a third season by reopening their renovated grill, but their dreams go up in smoke. Corky is given more responsibility at the grill, specifically, cooking french fries. When they close one evening, he turns the fryers off, or so he thinkd, but in actuality, he turned the fryers up as high as they go, which was the cause of the fire. He finally tells Drew that he was the cause of the fire at the end of the episode.

The thatcher house is struck by lightening. As a result, Corky predicts the future, Arnold the semi-wonder dog runs away, Becca gets a major static problem in her hair, Drew becomes attracted to another woman, and Paige enchants the boss's son, Kenny Stollmark Jr. Nothing returns to normal until lightening strikes the house again.

Corky, somehow rendered mute by the accident, does not speak up until Becca bears her soul to him. Then Corky says that Tyler tried to swerve around a boy on a bike. Becca still feels guilty over Tyler's death as she and Jesse place flowers at Tyler's grave. Also, Paige and Michael get locked in a refrigerated room for wedding cake storage ( she was looking for a cake for her and Kenny' wedding.)

Corky is nearly swamped when he tries to help Tyler's younger brother, who also has Down Syndrome, mainstream at Marshall High.

Corky gets lost and wanders around the mean streets of Chicago. He meets a kindhearted, young hooker who gives him his first sexual experience-essentially a few long kisses. ( The episode is intentionally vague over whether they went further.) Corky is shadowed (and mystically guided) throughout the evening by a semi-mythic blues singer, the great Leon Redbone. Becca and Tyler spend a rainy, frustrated evening driving around Chicago looking for Corky, and end up smooching in the car. This episode was filmed mostly in black and white.

At 16, Becca retains her innocence-but maybe not for long. Throughout this episode Becca records herself and her birthday party on camcorder for Maxi, who is in Paris. When Corky buys Becca a great looking jacket for her birthday, it is with the new-found power of a checking account. Unfortunately, some bad kids at school find out that Corky has checks and fool him into giving them a $100 check to join the fictitional ""Plebian Club"". At the end, Becca is in front of the camcorder again with a robe on, then opens it to reveal her negligee ( which Maxi sent her as a birthday gift), asking, ""Is this hot or what?""

Libby writes a fairy tale about Corky, and Corky enters it in a contest. Libby then gets an offer to get it printed as a children's book, but in a rewritten form. Libby turns down the offer, staying true to the story which has so much to do with Corky. (Becca doesn't like this because she would have wanted the money for college.) At the beginning of each act in this episode there is fancy narration and illustration which fades into the scene in "" real life"". There was also a subplot with Paige, Michael and Kenny.

Amanda's angry parents vow to annul her marriage to Corky and try to regain custody of Amanda. They then run off to a motel, further angering the Swanson's, not to mention their attorney. Amanda's father also falsely tells Corky that Amanda wanted the annulment. Meanwhile, Becca and Jesse are mad at each other. Becca can't come to Jesse's first show at the gallery beacuse of Corky and Amanda, and his recent growing involvement with Jill. Jesse is mad in part because the art show did not go well. Becca and Jill face off; Jill says Becca is too much in control, and acts like the only one who can take care of Jesse, but she'll back out anyway. Jesse talks with Corky about their ""honeymoon"" and Corky makes Jesse happier by interpreting one of his paintings as a window. In the end, the Thatchers and Swanson's go to court, but the judge let's Amanda make the final decision: She will live with Corky. They get Paige's old loft above the garage, while Paige decides to move out.

The series finale, it leaps 4 years into the future to see Becca and Jesse marry, and 10 years when Becca, now about 27 ( and still played by Kellie Martin) tells her son a story about what happened after graduating from high school. Corky doesn't graduate, but says, ""I'll be back."" Ray was the valedictorian of Becca's class. Jesse leaves for Europe, breaking Becca's heart, but returns four years later. It is not determined whether Becca's son was fathered by Jesse or not, but Becca expresses a desire to have Jesse's baby, saying that new treatments could make it possible. The question of who fathered this child is hard to answer as Becca says the final words of the series: "" I love you, Jesse.""

Corky and Amanda's ""trial marriage"" gets off to a rocky start. ( or crunchy, as in the crunchy macaroni and cheese: they didn't boil the elbows long enough.) Interviews with couples who have Down Syndrome are interwoven throughout.

Ray nominates Becca ( against her wishes) for Homecoming Queen; Goodman nominates a cow in protest of beauty pageants in general. The third contestant is a stuck-up cheerleader. Also, Artie (Paige's supervisor from the steelworks in season 3) and Paige redo the restaurant with a bovine motif. (They formed a partnership called Darlin' Construction, so called because Artie always calls Paige darlin'.)

The Thatchers win a problem-plagued church raffle trip to Hawaii.

While in Hawaii, Corky goes dolphin-riding and Becca falls for a surfer. (Part 2 of 2)

Romance blossoms between Corky and a girl with Down Syndrome (palyed by Andrea Friedman who has Down's), but it's nipped in the bud by her parents. Corky and Amanda first meet when Drew runs his truck into the back of Amanda's car. Meanwhile, Jerry sponsors Becca in a need-based scholarship contest, and Becca doesn't now it's need-based until the day before a banquet she's supposed to speak at.

Becca gets a crush on a French student and Maxi with this French guy's friend. They have high hope of getting in with this ""mature"" crowd. She and Maxi go to a bar with these boys and Maxi gets drunk. Becca tells her mom the next morning to get some help for Maxi's hangover. Becca's mom ends up telling Maxi's mother what happened after giving her word to Becca that it was just between them. Becca and Maxi get into a fight and Maxi is in with the mature crowd. Becca ditches school and gets grounded but has to go out that night when she recieves a call from Maxi because one of these guys had left her stranded. She gets caught sneaking back in the house. Side plot: A lady is choking in the restaurant, Corky runs to get Drew who gives the lady the Heimlich maneuver and the two of them become heros. Later the lady sues Drew for $ 25,000 because supposedly he broke one of her ribs.

Becca does a double flip over her gymnastics coach-as does Gina over a handyman (Michael St. Gerard) several years her junior.

New roles with Libby as the primary bread-winner and Drew as the homemaker, create new friction in their marriage.

Paige fends off an attempted rape by Becca's poetry teacher ( Leigh J. McCloskey). But their accounts differ and Becca, at first, believe the teacher. Corky imagines that a calendar swimsuit model ( Shari Shattuck) has come to life, and this imaginary woman explains how men tend to see only the bodies of women, not what's inside. Libby confronts her memories of a rape during her high school days. Becca confronts the teacher when his story gets a few holes in it.

Libby discovers she's expecting again, and the family fears the consequences of a pregnancy at her age.

Drew decides to turn the back room of the restaurant into a banquet room in hopes of bringing in more money. He gets funding from Farmer Jack on the condition that Drew use his son (Teddy) as a worker. Drew agrees. Drew and the kid develop a father/son like relationship. Corky is jealous and tries to help but causes more damage than good, which Drew blames on Teddy until Corky tells him the truth. Meanwhile, Libby, back at her old job tries to dig up a canine star for a gourmet dog-food commercial.

Corky resolves to enter a 50k bike race despite his father's objections, and makes friends with another biker who is epileptic. He bought a brand-spanking new bike from a guy in the bike store who had a crush on Paige. The bike was stolen, and Zoe, seeing Corky's heartbreak, stole him an almost identical one. The truth wins out, though, and all gets cleared up in the end.