After discovering that Barney is a closet poet, Fred manages to link him up with songwriter Hoagy Carmichael and the three set out to write a hit song. The resultant tune garners the boys a moment of fame as songwriters.
The Flintstones and the Rubbles take up Fred's rich cousins, Tumbleweed and Mary Lou Jim, on their offer to take care of their ranch while they go on an ocean cruise. Having gotten lost on the ranch, Fred and Barney stumble onto a nearby film location, where they are chased by cowboys and Indians.
Receiving a pay cut after thirteen years at the quarry, Fred decides to quit and become a bus driver. With Barney as co-pilot, Fred delivers fifty kids to school, a nerve-shattering experience. Not wanting to let the job get the better of him, he dutifully picks them up again but mis-delivers them home.
When his neighbors' domestic fights suddenly end with the disappearance of the wife, Fred suspects Alvin Brickrock of foul play. After reading a detective magazine, he becomes convinced that Brickrock is really Albert Bonehart, wife-murderer.
Needled by Wilma about his lack of romanticism, Fred takes his wife on a second honeymoon to Rock Mountain Inn, accompanied by the Rubbles. When the Flintstones learn that the official, Judge Wedrock, who married them was never licensed, Wilma takes advantage of the situation by making Fred court her all over again.
Movie star Rock Quarry has had enough of Hollyrock, and decides to move to Bedrock, where he is stalked by star-struck Wilma and Betty for an autograph. Meanwhile, Fred has an auto collision with the actor and invites him home to dinner, where he is recognized by Wilma despite his insistence that he is not Rock Quarry.
Part-time detectives Fred and Barney take their first case from Dagmar, The Peroxide Kid, who is really working for Boss Rockhead, a crook posing as a bank president. Rockhead stations Fred and Barney as bank guards while he and his gang transport the money to a ""safe place.""
Determined to rise above manual labor, Fred attends night class at Prinstone University and is drafted as a quarterback on the varsity team. But during the big game against Shale U., and exhausted Fred creates problems when he confuses his football signals with his accounting course figures.
After telling Wilma that he is going to visit a sick friend, Fred runs off to a poker game, where he wins $200. To explain the money, he tells Wilma that he found the cash, and is dismayed when she places an ad in the newspaper to locate the owner.
Wilma and Betty wrangle tickets to the upper-crust Ambassador's Reception and convince their husbands to go with them, sending Fred and Barney to charm school to prepare for the event. But the middle-class foursome ultimately discover that trying to play ""stuffy"" is no fun.
Fred and Barney are appointed judges for the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo's beauty contest. But complicating matters are Wilma's and Betty's suspicions, pressure from Mr. Slate, whose daughter is the competition, and threats from a racketeer who wants his girlfriend to be named Miss Water Buffalo.
Fred buys tickets to a society costume ball from his supervisor, Mr. Rockhead. Fred's plan to use this opportunity to butter up his costumed boss backfires when Rockhead switches costumes, and instead of being the recipient of Fred's honey, he becomes an unwitting confidant in his scheme.
Coveting the trophy collection of Lodge brother Joe Rockhead, Fred realizes that dumping Barney as his partner will improve his chances of winning during the annual field day games. This plan causes resentment from both Barney and Rockhead.
While plumbers at the Rubble home try to unfix Fred's attempted repair job, Betty and Barney move in temporarily with the Flintstones. The wives are convinced the forced togetherness will cause problems between Fred and Barney and they are right, although the husbands go to extreme measures to try to hide their bickering.
Ailing Dino is taken to the vet, who diagnoses him as having a ""dinopeptic germ,"" which is common to dinosaurs but lethal in humans. But when Dino's x-rays are mistaken as Fred's, Wilma is alerted and told to prepare the only known cure: keeping the patient awake for seventy-two hours, without telling him why.
A compulsive gambler in his younger days, Fred has been cured through psychiatric consultation--until paperboy Arnold tempts him with a bet. When the Flintstones' furniture begins to mysteriously disappear, Barney is dispatched to investigate Fred's marble games behind locked doors.
While shopping in a Bedrock drugstore with Betty, Wilma is discovered by a famous television producer. As a result, Fred borrows money from Barney to pay for acting lessons a quits his job in order to manage his wife's career.
Fred works overtime to earn extra money for a surprise gift for Wilma, and is ultimately tapped by Mr. Slate to entertain an important female client at the Copa Cave night club. Unfortunately, the Rubbles and Wilma show up at the club that same night.
While searching for a hairpin to fix the toaster, Fred finds a secret stash of cash that has been hidden by Wilma. To teach her a lesson, he uses the money to buy a new bowling ball, unaware that Wilma has been saving up to buy him the same ball as a birthday present.
While Fred is napping away his pre-golf tournament tensions, Barney interrupts his pal's dreams with a practice shot. Temperamental Fred explodes at Barney, which results in the Flintstones almost finding themselves without neighbors, when the Rubbles put their house up for sale.
Fed up with Fred's practical jokes, Barney decides to give him a taste of his own medicine. Barney sets up the gag with a stack of five, crisp $100 bills, his prize from the Sudsy-Wudsy jingle contest.
While driving to work, the boys decide to play hookey and go instead to the ballpark. They call in sick to their bosses and Barney is promptly ordered to report to the company nurse for a check-up. Fred then concocts an elaborate ruse that does indeed get Barney out of work--and into the hospital.
After a squabble about finances, Wilma seeks employment of her own. She applies for an office job at the Bedrock Radio & Television Corporation, but instead becomes the hostess of the ""Happy Housewife Show,"" a situation that makes things less than happy back at the cave.
Once more, Fred forgets the anniversary of the night he proposed to Wilma. After being chastised by Wilma, he agrees to take her on a date to the movies, but she wants to go on the same night he is supposed to be captaining his bowling team in the bowling alley, Fred tries to do both.
Fred and Barney encounter the penniless J. Montague Gypsum, who is threatening to jump from a bridge. Fred takes the man home and learns too late how responsible he is for the life he saved.
Having sold her home, Fred's antagonistic mother-in-law arrives at the Flintstone cave, and Fred tries to play cupid after meeting a rich Texan who is looking for an elderly wife. He invites the man home for dinner, but Wilma becomes suspicious of the would-be suitor.
Fuming that he is the only employee of the quarry not to received a raise in the mail, Fred writes a blistering letter to his boss, Mr. Slate, then Wilma frantically tries to retrieve it after Mr. Slate apologizes for the oversight.
Fred and Barney run into old friend Sherman Cobblehead, owner of The Golden Cactus Hotel in Rock Vegas, at an eatery. Cobblehead's casual promise to ""take care of"" Fred should he ever come to Vegas is misinterpreted as a guarantee that Fred will be a big winner in the casino.
Fred receives a ticket to a television game show that offers big prizes, but succumbs to stage fright before the show. Barney subs for him and wins a house boat, which Fred then tries to claim as his.
Wilma secretly empties Fred's closet of mementos for a rummage sale, including his old football uniform. But when Fred finds the goods in the Rubbles' car, where Wilma put them, he suspects Barney of being a thief.
Impressed by actor Roberto Rocketing, Wilma tries to turn Fred into a reasonable facsimile, and is surprisingly successful--ultimately a little too successful, as the dashing, mustachioed Fred now causes women to swoon in his arms.
Fred is chosen by PeeWee League players (including Arnold and Mr. Slate's son) to umpire a playoff game. His troubles mount when he must call the game honestly despite the pressures from friends, employers, and big league baseball scouts, who are observing Fred in action.
