Robert's fraternity brother Greg comes to New York to oversee an art auction. Robert, who hasn't seen Greg in ten years, spends all of his free time with his old buddy, alienating Wendell, who becomes particularly upset after Robert passes up going to the Knicks/Bulls game with him in favor of attending Greg's auction. Wendell has the last laugh when he shows up at the auction with proof that Greg's supposed masterpieces are really common, mass-produced works. Meanwhile, Zaria tries not to become jealous when an ex-boyfriend asks out one of her friends.

Nicholas is being bullied and shaken down by ""a bunch of baggy-pants, bandana wearin' hoodlums"" and figures the only way to beat them may be to join them. That is, until he learns about their gang initiation.

TK ponders violence after being assualted in front of Nicholas. He gets a gun and threatens to shoot Stone, but Robert talks him out of it. The two get ready to leave as Stone aims his gun at the both of them and fires. Meanwhile Cece fights with Skylar over the affections of Jesse.

Robert decides to cancel the Christmas holiday because he is disgusted with his children's greedy behavior. On Christmas Eve, all of the children have the same strange dream where they are visited by elves, which look a lot like Wendell and Robert. The elves make each of the kids realize how terrible they've been acting. The next morning Robert has a change of heart and decides to celebrate Christmas as usual. However the kids decide to celebrate Christmas a different way by giving all of their presents to needy children.

Michael thinks he's found the perfect girl in Chantel, one with looks, charm, a sense of humor -- and an infant son. Meanwhile, Wendell tries to win the grand prize on America's Funniest Home Videos.

Cece wins a kids regional beauty contest, turning her into an insufferable egotist and prompting Robert to launch ""Operation Shrink Cece's Head.""

Wendell subs in Nicholas' class and makes him the teacher's pet. Nicholas' classmates are jealous of the preferential treatment he is getting so they begin to taunt him relentlessly. In order to get back into his friends' good graces, Nicholas plays a practical joke on Wendell. His classmates stop harassing him but Nicholas feels very guilty about pulling the prank. The next day he goes to Wendell and admits he was the one who played the practical joke. He says he only did it so his classmates would stop teasing him. Wendell accepts Nicholas' apology and begins treating him like a normal student, including making him sit in the corner as punishment for his prank.

There's a slight hitch in Wendell's offer to take Robert and Jerri on a ""free"" Valentine's getaway to a romantic Pocono Mountains resort: the free weekend is a gimmick used to sell vacation time shares, and Robert and Jerri spend most of their time being hounded by a relentless salesman from the resort. Meanwhile, while the kids have the house to themselves for the first time, Ira runs away from home.

In observance of Black History Month, Nicholas must choose a famous African-American to portray at a school assembly. Nicholas shocks his family when he tells them he wants to be Buckwheat. Robert suggests to Nicholas that he choose an African-American figure with a more positive image. However, Nicholas is adamant about his choice so Robert decides to lend his son support. At the assembly, Nicholas comes out dressed in Buckwheat garb and speaks in the almost unintelligible style, which was Buckwheat's trademark. However, midway through his speech, Nicholas takes off his Buckwheat wig to explain that during Buckwheat's era, black actors had to portray stereotypical characters if they wanted to be in movies at all, and that we should honor these black film pioneers for making it easier for future generations of African-American actors. Meanwhile, Cece wants to be more like her big sister Zaria by emulating her.

When Nicholas decides to show off his dance moves in a school talent show, Jerri, who was classically trained, steps in as his teacher; but he finds studying with her akin to attending boot camp. Also, Wendell and Robert stumble upon Zaria's diary.

Nicholas overhears a difference of opinion between his parents and mistakenly thinks they are getting a divorce because of him, and enlists Wendell's help in trying to keep them together. Meanwhile, an overworked Jerri asks Michael and Zaria to babysit Cece.

Michael auditions female singers for his band, and the front-runner is Zaria's annoying friend Theresa.

Shakim insists on driving old flame Alexis home from a party, and the resulting misunderstanding leads to a rift in his relationship with Zaria -- until she learns Alexis has a drinking problem. Meanwhile, Nicholas and Cece find money in the street but don't realize it is counterfeit.

The last time Robert saw Parris, the elder Peterson brother was doing time in prison. Now he's out and visiting the family, but Robert thinks Parris has some kind of scam cooking, especially after some appliances mysteriously disappear. Meanwhile, Michael is upset when Nicholas continually breaks his big brother's possessions.

Zaria becomes ""the voice of teenage America"" as host of a New York-based TV talk show aimed at fellow high-schoolers. But success may be going to Zaria's head when she decides to drop out. Also, almost everyone in the house is missing money at the same time that T.K. starts showing up with new threads and jewelry.

Kelly spots Robert's neighbor hoisting strange bags out of the house and become convinced he is a murderer. Meanwhile, T.K. tries to shed his streetwise image for a more conservative one -- which the other kids hate.

T.K. and Kelly find themselves in the doghouse when an unexpected turn of events disrupts their plan to neutralize Queenie, visiting Aunt Josephine's mean pet. Meanwhile, Zaria fumes when Robert's editing of her valedictory speech leaves no trace of her personality.

Jerri's sister Celeste pays a visit and unintentionally strains Robert and Jerri's marriage with her extravagant suggestions for their 20th-anniversary party and Zaria and T.K. find themselves riding to the rescue.

Michael and Zaria use reverse psychology to get their parents to let them have their grandmother's car by pretending Michael wants a tattoo and Zaria a nose ring, but the plan backfires. Robert and Jerri trick the kids by encouraging them and even driving them to the tattoo/piercing parlor. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wilcox dates a young man and asks Robert's advice on lovemaking -- and the disturbing images this arouses in Robert's mind affect his performance with Jerri.

Robert is concerned when Zaria goes on a date with Michael's shallow friend Troy, and resorts to hiring a woman from Derek's acting class to lure Troy away. When Jerri catches Robert in the closet with this woman, he's got a lot of explaining to do. Meanwhile, Nicholas's beloved pet snake gets loose in the house, and when he replaces it with a dummy snake, Jerri thinks it died due to her neglect.

In an attempt to establish a strong work ethic in Michael, Robert makes a bet that he can work side by side with Michael at his pizza parlor job. Unbeknownst to Robert, the manager of the pizza parlor once flunked Robert's class. Meanwhile, worried about gaining weight, Zaria appoints Nicholas her ""health cop."" Every time she takes an unnecessary bite of food, Nicholas gets to punish her by looking at a page from her diary.

Robert pretends to forget his anniversary, while all the while he's made special plans for a surprise romantic evening with Jerri; but when the evening arrives, he must first attend a lecture with special guest Jeffrey Osbourne. When an unexpected blizzard ruins Robert's special anniversary plans, he convinces the singing star to come to his house and help save his marriage. Meanwhile, when Michael is unable to repay a loan to Zaria, she forces him to perform humiliating tasks around the house.

Robert, who has been critical of Michael's former girlfriends, agrees to be nice to college sophomore Patrice when she comes to dinner. But Patrice makes a pass at a shocked Robert when they are alone -- and nobody believes his story. Later, Patrice suggests to Jerri that she and Michael accompany the young couple on a double date at a restaurant, where Jerri catches Patrice in action.

Robert hopes a stray mutt will replace Nicholas' imaginary friend -- if they can keep the pup hidden from pooch-hater Jerri. The school psychologist convinces Robert than an imaginary friend is completely normal -- but when he relievedly tells Jerri about the dog, Jerri and the psychologist are convinced he's the delusional one.

A dinner visit from Robert's classmate, now an arrogant Princeton professor who believes men are smarter than women, sparks a battle of the sexes when Jerri scores higher than Robert on an I.Q. test included in the professor's latest book.