The Barones clash even more than usual when they get a child's-eye view of all the bickering that goes on in the family. The fireworks begin when the whole family attends an open house at first-grader Michael's school, during which the kids all read stories that they've written themselves.
When Debra tells Ray that he's too selfish in bed and that she wants a little variety, he goes out and buys an adults only board game to spice things up.
Frank is so green with envy that he forces Marco to choose either Marie or him as a friend. Meanwhile, Ray sides with Frank because he doesn't approve of a married woman having a male friend.
When Ray gets hit on at the airport after losing his wedding ring, Debra gets jealous and tries to get back at him by going to the supermarket without her wedding ring but her plan backfires on her when nobody pays attention to her.
Ray and Debra are horrified when Marie presents them with an abstract sculpture she made in art class, and which resemblance a part of the female anatomy. Frank, on the other hand, is totally mesmerized by Marie's creation.
Ray tells Frank that he and Debra fell down the stairs so Frank tries fixing the stairs but ends up in the hospital. Ray feels so guilty that he tells Frank the truth, that he and Debra fell out of bed while having sex.
Marie and Debra set up Amy with Gianni to get Robert jealous so he'll want to get back together with Amy but their plan backfires when Amy and Gianni hit it off.
While Debra and Ray watch their sons play, Ray notices that Geoffery is having trouble getting the hang of the game. Ray learns the hard way that his son's lack of ability shouldn't interfere with either of them enjoying the game.
It's the first Thanksgiving since Debra's parents divorced, and Debra is thrilled that both her parents have agreed to have dinner with the Barone family. However, she soon learns that her father is bringing a date. Everyone is horrified except Debra's mother, who thinks it's just great.
Robert meets a beautiful woman who is a big fan of Ray's sports column and who mistakes him for Ray. When he doesn't correct her, he has no choice but to involve Ray in a complicated plot to keep the woman from learning Robert's true identity.
While enjoying a college football game, Frank catches a football from a record setting field goal and refuses to give it back. When word of this gets back to the local sports community via a talk radio show, he becomes a wanted man among sports fans.
When Marie receives a Christmas letter from a relative detailing how wonderful her life is and how well her kids are doing, it drives Marie insane with jealousy. Later, when Marie shows Debra the letter, the two join forces to compose a Barone family Christmas letter.
When Debra grudgingly agrees to let Ray be more involved in daily decision making, Ray starts grocery shopping for things that he likes. Debra even lets him choose where the family will go for their next vacation. However, these newfound powers quickly become Ray's undoing.
Held captive at Frank and Marie's during a snowstorm, Debra, Ray, and Amy actually find themselves having a great time. Then Debra makes a nasty comment to Frank which totally upsets the good mood. This causes Marie to defend Frank and finally reveal her true feelings for Debra.
When Ray learns that scout troop leader Peggy and her daughter have targeted his parents house as a spot to make a big sale for themselves during the Frontier Girls' selling competition, while Ray and his daughter Ally were assigned to a terrible spot, it means war.
Thinking it would be hilarious to show the party-goers a typical day in the life of Frank and Marie, Ray and Debra do a dead-on impersonation of the two that brings down the house at the party. But when Frank and Marie turn the tables and do a Ray and Debra imitation, the couple finds it much less funny.
When Debra stumbles across a cassette tape that contains a message from Ray's college girlfriend, she wants to know why he has saved it all of these years.
Ray has been arming himself with knowledge and has been preparing to speak with Ally about the facts of life only to find that Ally's interest has changed from where babies come from to the meaning of life.
Marie gets upset when she hears Ray calling Debra's mother, "mom". Ray tells Debra that maybe she should start calling Marie "mom". When Debra does so in front of Lois, she gets upset because she doesn't think that Debra should be calling Marie "mom" since she isn't her mother.
Debra takes offence when Marie accuses her of being rude and the two wind up fighting and not speaking to each other. When Ray tries to make things better by getting each of the women to apologize to the other, he only makes a bad situation worse.
The feud between Debra and Marie continues. Ray realizes that he can use the feud to get Debra to do almost anything for him, dragging Frank into exploiting the situation with Marie.
After Marie has Frank return an anniversary gift given to them by Ray and Debra, the two reminisce about the first time they slept together. An encounter Marie had tried to stop by inviting a priest to Debra's department.
