Annie is pregnant with twins, but jealous Ruthie has the morning sickness; Mary and Lucy engage in a flirting contest when Mary doubts the validity of popular dating handbook The Rules. Matt started his first year of college and decided to move out of the house and moves in with three girls in an apartment.

College-freshman Matt reconsiders pledging a fraternity when his friend goes through an initiation involving an episode of binge drinking; current "man of the house" wants no part of helping the family restore a car as a gift for Matt; a divorcee flirts with Eric.

Mary thinks Lucy's friend Nicole (Allison Mack) is partially responsible for Lucy's sinking biology grade, then later she catches her cutting herself in the bathroom; Simon pays Ruthie to do well on a test.

After Simon witnesses his science teacher Mr. Lane intervening between a young boy and his screaming father, he feels guilty for getting Mr. Lane fired and asks Eric for help; Matt gets the wrong idea from his English professor Dr. LaRoe; Mary is one of three Lady Wildcats who must sit out the season's first basketball game when they cut class.

A freshman with a girlfriend courts Lucy; Simon goes from geek to hero and back; Eric helps grieving parishioner Elizabeth Brown find the recipients of her son's organs on the 3-year anniversary of his death; Matt is mistaken for a grand theft auto suspect when he pulls over to help a pregnant girl.

On Veterans Day, a hormonal Annie refuses to prepare the wedding reception of her father Charles (Graham Jarvis) and his girlfriend Ginger (Beverly Garland); at the market she stops the harassment of a homeless veteran (Ray Walston), a former chef who offers to help her with the reception to show his gratitude; Matt and Mary take a seemingly-endless road trip; Ruthie reunites with her imaginary friend.

Deena's (Nicole Cherie Saletta) ex Johnny shows up at school and threatens to shoot Simon, and when Eric intervenes, Johnny shoots him; he is later deemed violently insane and sentenced to a mental institution for youth. Mary dates Matt's girlfriend's psychopathic brother against Matt's orders.

Eric's former rock and roll band comes to town for a concert, but he is concerned about their possible drug habits, and Annie's displeased about their influence on the kids; Mary's friend pressures her to take herbal energy pills; Lucy agonizes over being temporarily banned from using the phone.

Eric and Annie accidentally attend a prenatal class for first-time parents and end up counseling pregnant teens Barbara and Cassandra and their boyfriends on preparing for parenthood; Matt thinks he is losing his brotherly touch when he does not foresee Lucy's plans to have sex with Jordan; Mary sneaks off to a co-ed sleepover; Simon practices his babysitting skills on formidable opponent Ruthie.

Eric tries to instill the real meaning of Christmas into his children by assigning the three eldest to do charity work; he and Annie get creative with their gift-giving; Simon works to restore Ruthie's holiday spirit after her encounter with an unexpectedly-familiar mall Santa Claus; Mary meets a new man (Carlos Ponce) at the soup kitchen and brings him home for a Camden Christmas; Lucy receives a confusing present from Jordan.

Simon learns that his girlfriend Deena is a leukemia survivor and Ruthie tries to calm his fears by calling "Mabel the Psychic" (Phyllis Diller); Mary employs an unusual tactic to get her driver's license; only Matt knows that Aunt Julie (Deborah Raffin) is back in town.

Simon wants to buy Deena the perfect gift for their 3-month anniversary, but it consumes his time, which annoys his friend Nigel; Lucy's ex-boyfriend hides in her closet after his mom's death; Heather is back in town and tells Matt she's engaged; Dr. Hastings, who almost botched Matt's birth, now works at Glenoak Hospital and Annie doesn't want him to deliver her twins; Mary hears from an unexpected, unwelcome caller.

While Lucy is on a weekend trip exploring her inner self, the church's women's group throws Annie a baby shower and snoops around the house; Matt and Eric witness racism while out to lunch with friends; Ruthie involves her siblings in her playground war with a schoolmate.

The twins are on their way and the older kids must find ways to entertain themselves as Annie goes through her most difficult labor yet. Lucy questions her true feelings for Jordan and wonders if she should end their relationship; Matt musters the courage to give blood; Simon prays for baby brothers; and Happy has a blast in the empty house.

Samuel and David are home and will not stop crying; Matt starts working at the Dairy Shack as a delivery guy; Mary sneaks out to meet Wilson at the pool hall--and sees Jordan there and talks to him--and Lucy, covering for her, ends up doing all the cleaning by herself; Ruthie wants to run away from home and Annie comforts her by giving her her baby book; Matt gets fired but sees his old girlfriend Shana.

The whole family tries to convince Lucy not to see Jimmy Moon anymore when Eric has reason to believe he's using drugs; Lucy is overwhelmed when she doesn't listen to them and tries to help him on her own; not-so-athletic Simon hopes to use basketball-star Mary as a reference when he tries out for the baseball team.

Eric counsels Ted and Emily, a troubled couple on the brink of divorce; Matt decides to join the Army without consulting his parents; Mary and Lucy are just trying to get out of the house when they are in a car accident with drunk-driving Ted; Simon searches for his red-lightning ring and tries sending chain letters to banish bad luck as the family's new middle sibling; Ruthie tries to focus visitors' attention on herself instead of the new babies they're coming to meet.

Moral outrage explodes in the community over an affair between a college president and a student at Matt's college, and even Matt gets into a fight over a difference of opinions about the affair; Simon and Ruthie get an after-school job; Mary thinks she hit a car in the school parking lot and makes amends by promising the driver a date with Lucy.

Eric defends Rudy, a custodian at Simon's school, when the school board forces him into early retirement because he claims to hear messages from God; when Annie wants a fun night out with other mothers, Mary volunteers herself and Lucy to look after the twins but expects Lucy to do most of the work; nobody believes Ruthie when she says a chimp is living in a tree in the backyard.

Two parishioners entreat Eric to take their suffering dog to the vet to be put down; Matt catches Mary kissing Michael Towner in Sergeant Michaels' squad car; Simon goes on his first date with Deena, bringing Lucy along for Deena's brother.

Eric worries about Matt as Heather's wedding approaches; he also learns--and keeps from the family--that his sister Julie is dating Dr. Hastings; Deena's cousin kisses Simon and Lucy's ex Jordan admits he likes Mary; Ruthie wants to be a bridesmaid in Heather's wedding. To be continued...

Eric counsels an engaged couple facing difficulties; Mary, Lucy and Simon learn the repercussions of forbidden love, especially Simon when Ruthie catches him and Deena kissing in his bedroom and threatens to tell on them; Julie marries Dr. Hastings (Hank) and learns that she is pregnant; Heather breaks up with her fiancé when she learns he was cheating on her, and Matt tries to save his relationship with Shana after running off with Heather.