The series opens with the Drummonds (from Diff'rent Strokes) visiting Eastland to see Mrs. Garrett (their ex-housekeeper). They arrive right in the middle of the Harvest Queen competition and Blair is sure she's going to win. So when Cindy considers running, Blair makes some snide comments about Cindy's femininity.

It's Parent's Night at Eastland and Blair's sophisticated mother arrives bringing with her, her flirtatious tendancies which prompt rumors when she becomes ""friendly"" with a married man.

Mrs. Garrett is surprised by a visit from her ex-husband, Roger, who wants the two of them to remarry. However, his gambling ways rub off on the girls who begin gambling on poker games and loosing what little money they have..

Tootie accidentally comes across a paper which lists the I.Q. scores of each one of the girls. Nancy received the highest score and Sue Ann scored the lowest, this puts extra pressure on each one of them just prior to midterm exams.

Tootie's father comes for a visit and doesn't like the activities that Tootie is being exposed to. Believing that Mrs. Garrett is a bad influence, Mr. Ramsey decides to have Tootie transfer out of Eastland.

Blair is so caught up with her latest boyfriend that she forgets about an English assignment in which she has to write a poem. So, at the last minute she plagiarizes a poem by Emily Dickinson and turns it in as her own. Things get worse when she's the only one who gets an A and Mr. Bradley enters her poem in a contest.

Blair and Sue Ann kid each other about their weight and Sue Ann takes Blair's comments a little too seriously. However, when Blair sets Sue Ann up on a blind date which will involve going swimming, Sue Ann goes on a starvation diet leading to a collapse. Meanwhile, Mrs. Garrett also jumps on the dieting wagon, trying to fit in a size 12 dress.

Mrs. Garrett begins teaching a sex-education class at Eastland and her tactics are against the more prudish suggestions of Mr. Bradley. Meanwhile, Blair takes the ideas from class and expirements with her latest boyfriend, Steve.

A flood hits Peekskill which prompts Blair and Tootie to race out to the stables to save some animals from being washed away. However the damn breaks and Blair and Tootie become in danger of being washed away.

Mr. Bradley gives the girls an assignment having to do with their family trees. However, Natalie is reluctant to show hers in class do to the fact that the family that raised her is her adopted family. This prompts Blair to help Natalie find the name of her real mother by using her mother's clout to cut through some red tape and sealed records.

Mr. Bradley's need to have Eastland win prompts him to manipulate Sue Ann into competing in a running competition. Sue Ann had previously ran but this year decided not to, however, Mr. Bradley uses Cindy's better racing times to goad Sue Ann into competing.

Molly is down in the dumps due to her parents getting a divorce. So she gets some help from the girls who plan to reunite her parents. Things hit the fan, when her father arrives with a new girlfriend.

Blair and Sue Ann befriend two new girls. All seems to go okay with them until they learn that their friends use drugs.

Streetsmart Bronx native, Jo Polniaczeck arrives at Eastland.

Mrs. Garrett bails the girls out of jail and announces that they all have been expelled from Eastland. However, they can stay if they move in with Mrs. Garrett and work in the cafeteria. This prompts Jo's want to leave to become even stronger.

Blair is sure that an old friend of hers', Harrison Andrews is going to invite her to a cotillion, however she is thrown for a loop when he invites Jo.

Tootie begins to think long and hard about her race and how she's being treated at Eastland, thanks to a new boy whom Tootie took an interest in. Tootie soon begins to shun Natalie, Jo and Blair and even backs out of a dance contest because her dance partner is white.

When Blair's cousin, Geri, arrives for a visit, Mrs. Garrett, based on Blair's behavior, thinks she's embarrassed of Geri since she has cerebral palsy. However later Mrs. Garrett realizes she's really jealous of her since Geri is also a successful comedienne.

It's Edna's birthday and the girls want to buy her a gift. Blair told them that she would buy the gift but Jo, Natalie, and Tootie decide to buy their own gift. They decide to buy a cool Hawaiian shirt for Mrs. Garrett because it's on sale. When they go to the store they find the sale has ended. Jo decided to steal the shirt. Later, Mrs. Garrett decides to return the shirt and discovers it was stolen.

Jo's boyfriend, Eddie, surprises her by making a sudden visit to Peekskill, but she gets even more of a surprise when he proposes marriage.

Jo is unsure of whether or not to accept Eddie's proposal but finally decides to go ahead with the wedding, despite the feelings of Mrs. Garrett, Blair, Natalie and Tootie.

When Tootie overhears a secret that Blair tells Jo about Nancy's beau, she lets the secret slip and Nancy and Blair get into a fight which leads Blair to give Jo the silent treatment. Things get worse, when Tootie mistakes Mrs. Garrett for being drunk, when really her eyes had been dilated by her eye doctor prompting her to be a little topsy turvy. The rumor of Mrs. Garrett's drunken sprawl could cost her her job.

Blair is running for class president but things get out of hand when one of the candidates commits suicide.

Natalie hits it off with Neil, a boy she meets at a dance and they later begin studying together. However, rumors are spread that Natalie and Neil did more than just study which brings on calls from a number of boys who want to study with Natalie. Natalie encourages these rumors when she goes out with the boys due to the fact that Blair, Jo and Tootie laughed at the notion that Natalie could be a sex symbol.

Shortly after winning an award, Jo learns that her jailbird father, is getting paroled and that he would like to attend the awards ceremony. However, an ashamed Jo, tries to keep her father from attending as well as tries to keep secret the fact that her dad is in prison.