Shirley Silver wants a holiday. Husband Nat has other plans. Their daughter Lorraine is surprised by her blind date.
Business could be better at the diner and both Nat and Shirley know this. But while Shirley tries to do something about it, Nat schemes to keep things just the way they are
Shirley has an idea. Nat should join the Freemasons. This, she is sure, is a good idea. But then Willie, their old friend and waiter, drops a bombshell.
When Nat and Shirley try their hand at charity, events spin rapidly out of control. After they help a tramp, word spreads on the street and the Silver Diner soon turns into a soup kitchen.
Lorraine's Valentine's card creates more trouble than either Nat or Shirley can handle.
While her husband Nat struggles to run the Silver Diner, and her daughter Lorraine revises for exams, Shirley starts wearing mini-skirts and listening to old hits of the 60s. The reason, she confides to Willie, is that she feels jealous of her daughter's education and fears her own epitaph will read "She came, she saw, she made sandwiches".