Paul and Jamie Buchman are newlyweds adjusting to life together in Manhattan. When after only 5 months of marriage Jamie complains that their sexual life is not like it used to be, Paul decides to come home earlier from his job so they can spend a nice evening alone. But their scheduled evening goes awry as each assumes the other had cancelled their dinner plans with friends.
News of his ex-girlfriend visiting New York first fills Paul with excitement, followed by guilt, culminating in blithering idiocy after he invites Jamie to Riff's to meet her and Jamie accepts.
Paul and Jamie enjoy a quiet Sunday with nothing to do except decide what to do. However, they have to decide whether to see a movie, take in a parade or get to the museum before their friends' Sundays intrude.
To Paul, a couch by any other name is not a couch, especially if it is a divan, a settee, or worse, a love seat. Jamie is determined that their first major purchase be jointly made and when dragged to the department store, Paul manages to hyperventilate. When they hang out together in the store, Mark tells Paul some information that he probably shouldn't ever find about.
Paul's film about Yankee Stadium is rejected by PBS the same day Jamie snags a major advertising account, turning her celebratory bash into a defeat party.
An unexpectedly long visit by Jamie's parents, Gus (guest star Paul Dooley) and Theresa Stemple (guest star Nancy Dussault), turns her into a raving lunatic who bribes Lisa with cold cash and cab fare into sharing the experience.
Paul is suddenly reluctant to use the subway because a former fellow film school student turns up as the token clerk at his station.
The Buchmans find their new once-a-week maid, Masha (guest star Beata Pozniak) a big help, but she is heartbroken that her affection for ""Mr. Paul"" isn't being reciprocated.
Planning their last will and testament together brings up the subject of Paul's old bachelor pad, which he now sublets to Cosmo Kramer (guest star Michael Richards). Jamie wants Paul to get rid of his apartment, but Paul is against that. They get into a fight, which results in Paul deciding about the future of his apartment and Jamie getting rid of her t-shirt from her past (which she later wants back).
The Buchmans get off on the wrong foot with the neighbors across the hall, Hal and Maggie Conway (guest stars Paxton Whitehead and Judy Geeson), and each subsequent step to improve relations seems to make matters worse.
On a trip to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with Jamie's parents, Paul and Jamie are doing fine, Mark and Fran begin to fight, while Selby and Lisa are just friends. However, on the return journey, everything is different.
Producer Jamie gets to hire the director for a new spot for a New York City tourism campaign and she picks Paul so they can work together. However, they soon find out how much togetherness is too much.
The story of how Paul and Jamie met is told, beginning with a chance encounter on a Sunday evening by the newsstand, followed by Paul's hard work to locate Jamie. Jamie breaks up with her boyfriend and is feeling strange. Paul appears in her office bringing her dry cleaning and as time passes, they go on a dinner date.
What should a couple do when trapped in their bathroom on Valentine's Day? Paul and Jamie show the way--painting toenails, giving mutual facials, and using antacid tablets as food and more.
After unwittingly revealing a secret about a bride to her father on her wedding day, Paul badgers Jamie into telling him one of hers, and is soon sorry that he did.
An escape to the countryside doesn't immediately cure Jamie's blues, but once it does, she wants to stay in the country permanently, make apples, till the soil and run a Chinese restaurant.
Jamie thinks that Lisa and her new boyfriend, Michael (guest star Charles Shaughnessy) are moving too fast in their relationship. When Lisa and Michael decide to move in together after a week's acquaintance, Paul tries to stop Jamie from interfering, but she is unable to stay uninvolved.
An extremely energetic and eccentric billionaire wants Paul to make a film about him. Meanwhile, Paul hires a new editor/cameraman who is anything but energetic.
Paul's father has his 15 minutes of fame following an incident with Regis Philbin that embarrasses Paul. Events progress to a point where Paul is being viewed by the entire city as an over-reactive son.
Jamie's new client is a former TV star, Diane Caldwell (guest star Barbara Feldon) idolized by Paul and Ira in their childhood. They quickly revert back to their old ways and compete for star attention. But, Ira charms Diane before Paul and gets to spend a night with her. But, the next day, everything is about to change when Ira finds out the truth...
At the Buchmans' first anniversary party, love blossoms between Warren and Connie, while Paul tries to turn back the clock. However, there is no love between the now separated Fran and Mark.
Jamie hires an ex-boyfriend, Sherman (guest star Rick Rossovich), to paint the apartment and is a bit annoyed when Paul is not concerned by the prospect of her old flame being alone with her. When Paul comes home from his job, he finds Sherman and Fran together in their bed having sex, because Fran is stressed over her move-out from Mark's apartment. So, Paul talks to Mark about their marriage. Jamie and Paul try to get them back together, but they decide to split up.
Lisa takes Murray out for a walk and returns with a dog that obviously isn't him. Paul and Jamie go to the police whilst friends and family join the hunt for the real Murray. While reuniting with Murray, they meet the couple who own the better-behaved look-alike.
Phone calls, noisy neighbors and Murray chasing an invisible mouse are some of the distractions that Paul and Jamie face while struggling to find romance during a long-awaited evening together.
A heart attack scare sends Paul's father to the hospital, leaving his mother home alone, until Jamie tries to score some much needed points with her mother-in-law by offering to stay the night to keep her company.
An evening out at Riff's sees Paul complaining about his meddlesome new producer, and Jamie venting about her credit-claiming boss, who happens to be seated nearby.
Paul is anything but pleased with Jamie, who has too much free time on her hands, and uses it to cut his hair and his film, improving on the original cut.
Paul's shooting schedule leaves it all up to Jamie to go out trick-or-treating on Halloween with his seven-year-old nephew, whose extended two-hour visit Paul forgot to mention to her.
What brought Paul and Jamie together? Was it fate or a big coincidence? Jamie's belief that it was fate annoys Paul to no end, especially because Jamie is spending more time with Lisa than with him.
Jamie suspects a surprise party waiting for her at home. However, that's not what Paul has arranged for her birthday. They then get separated on the subway en route to the surprise.
A free weekend in Atlantic City has been mysteriously arranged for Jamie, Paul, Fran & Ira, by Ira's ex-wife as it turns out, is now a casino hostess who wants Ira to sign divorce papers.
An unemployed Jamie is envious of Paul, whose work is something he loves to do. Meanwhile, Paul feels betrayed by his producer Lou, who is now tampering with Paul's latest labor of love.
Lisa acquires her 15 minutes of fame under a pseudonym in her shrink's book, and Paul is caught in the middle of the sibling squabble that follows when Jamie takes exception to being called Lisa's overbearing sister.
The death of a Paul Buchman affects Jamie and Paul quite suddenly, leaving them without cash or credit. Meanwhile, Paul is morbidly curious about his deceased namesake.
Jamie and Paul must endure two months of separation when Paul has to shoot a film in Chicago, returning only for the weekends, weather permitting.
Fran tells Jamie that she may be pregnant, and Paul finds out from Ira that Ira may have gotten someone pregnant, but neither realizes that it is Ira who might have gotten Fran pregnant.
Paul invests in a startup venture, bringing out a virtual-reality system with Ira, after a demo but without consulting Jamie, who reacts calmly to his actions, both real and imagined.
A Valentine's Day story that begins with Jamie and Paul rink side at Rockefeller Center and moves back three years to the day they finally moved in together and ended up engaged.
Jamie's fortune cookie predicts that bad luck will follow the guilty, but Paul is convinced her bad luck is being visited on him even as they head to a party at Yoko Ono's place.
Jamie and Paul are horrified to discover that Paul has unwittingly handed over a revealing homemade video of them to the Family Network, instead of a documentary about a zoo.
The Buchmans find letters written by former tenants of their apartment chronicling a World War II love story that Jamie feels parallels her and Paul's relationship.
Jamie and Paul refuse to take sides in an incident between their mothers, while Lisa plays both sides to her advantage. Meanwhile, Murray is found to be suffering from his own mother issues.
The night before Jamie returns to school she worries that Paul might not support her fully. In the morning, before Jamie leaves, Paul realizes that he has forgotten to mail her registration.
Perturbed by Jamie's chumminess towards her younger classmate, Nick, Paul accompanies them on a blind date that Jamie organises for Nick & Fran. While organising a movie about the world's fastest short-order cook, Paul runs into Fran's estranged ex-husband, Mark, working as the restautant's busboy.
Jamie is suffering from sleeplessness because she drank four cups of tea full of coffeine while studying for a test. Restless and board, Jamie urges Paul to spend the night awake with her which leads them to an all-night adventure in the building, from the basement to the rooftop, which ends with a tango together with John Astin, if that's who he really is.
Paul finds Mark working in a local store. After he meets the owners of the shop, Kim & Tammy, Paul finds out that Mark is learning to pray Zen. While Mark is trying to make him join him in prayer, Paul finds out that he lost his wedding ring. Worried about what will jamie say, Paul rushes to the house to find it.
The real marriage anniversary arrives and Jamie gives Paul a gift - a swiss military knife - and receives a gift from Paul - a machine for making sugar products. Both disappointed with their gifts, they go to a store where it turns out that they have totally different opinions about children. Then, when they have lunch with Paul's sister, they try to entertain Susan's son Nah while she's on the phone. Paul realizes that having kids is nothing different than having a dog, but Jamie has a totally different opinion.
A heatwave and the death of their air conditioner forces Paul and Jamie to find refreshment. They go out on the streets of NY, but find out that there it's even worse. Jaime convinces Paul that they should leave town and have dinner in a restaurant by the sea where they used to eat. But, while borrowing Fran's car, Jamie gets upset to find out that Fran got her old job...
The war of the Buchmans and the Conways is fully engaged as rumors fly about the apartment building going co-op. Meanwhile, Murray and Sophie, Conway's dog, find true love and then some more.
After Jamie's dearest uncle dies, Paul, Jamie and Lisa find themselves together on his funeral. But, when Jamie convinces Paul to make a speech, he insluts her entire family with uncomfrontable notices. However, Paul soon realizes that he is the one who is upset, because Jamie insists that her uncle Van's ashes would be in their house until they find a better place for him.
The Wickers have a big fight and Mr. Wicker moves in with the Buchmans. Meanwhile, Jamie finally succumbs to an eye exam, where she finds out that she'll have to wear glasses. But, to decide between between glasses and contact lenses is so hard that it seems to be mission: impsossible.
Arranging an appearance by a former Yankee player for Buchman's Sporting Goods annual midnight sale, Jamie gets her PR juices flowing. But Paul is left feeling uncomfortable, for more reasons than one.
Jamie works around Paul's opposition to having a TV in their bedroom, and hotwires an additional cable outlet with Fran's help. The resulting complications ultimately lead to a city-wide blackout.
Fran's birthday party is the setting for Jamie's unexpected encounter with an ex-boyfriend, and the saga of who dumped whom dominates her evening. The cab ride home provides two interlocking perspectives of the evening's events.
Jamie's perfect Thanksgiving feast involves a buffet for ten and five turkeys, thanks to Murray and the extremely friendly neighborhood grocer Kim.
As the Buchmans' sex life waxes and wanes, Lisa snags a pair of free dinners, Fran loses a window office and Ira acquires a silent partner.
A bad day in the Big Apple leaves Jamie unwilling to go out to see a feel-good movie, but Paul talks her into an evening out, if only to meet Ira's new girlfriend.
Paul is one of six documentary filmmakers selected by PBS to turn the camera on themselves for 15 minutes, and in his case, it turns into a big surprise.
Paul's ideas on how to meet and engage the opposite sex are tested by Jamie in a hypothetical encounter, while Ira has a very real encounter with Jamie's friend.
The saga of the three months leading up to Paul and Jamie's wedding, what with the invitations, the reception menu, the dress fittings, the band selection, the rehearsal dinner and the remarkable goings-on of the night before the wedding.
The saga of the three months leading up to Paul and Jamie's wedding, what with the invitations, the reception menu, the dress fittings, the band selection, the rehearsal dinner and the remarkable goings-on of the night before.
The tale of Murray's showbiz career, spawned by a walk-on appearance in a commercial directed by Paul, advanced by an eager agent, leading all the way to an audition for a series.
Paul finds it very difficult to deal with the considerable ego of a legendary TV star, until help arrives in the form of a tip from a surprising quarter.
Jamie goes up to Connecticut to keep her dad company, and the home-alone Paul gets quite giddy enjoying his role as ""Lord of the Manor.""
Paul's Canadian adventure gets off to a bad start and Jamie's pitch to a client does likewise while Lisa's day is smooth sailing after she accidentally snags her sister's purse and more.
Paul and Jamie use his parents' non-refundable package for a holiday in the Caribbean, telling tall tales in multiple languages.
Marianne returns from Luxembourg, sans her husband, but with ""more money than Canada,"" eager to finance Ira's new catalog business with an interest-free loan, but his silent partner finds voice to veto the deal.
The saga of Paul's birthdays since meeting Jamie, going back and then forth, recounting the disasters and the strange tale of a bottle of Grandfather Port.
Jamie is obliged to work on an advertising campaign with ex-boyfriend Alan, a graphics artist, who has recently published a comic book about an evil queen in outer space. But the queen's looks and exploits sound like anything but fiction to Jamie.
Unable to buy her an anniversary present, with or without everyone else's help, Paul hands Jamie a slip of paper entitling her to a magical night. Things take a decidedly unusual turn after that.
Jamie is enthralled by it, Paul doesn't remember it, Murray didn't see it, and Ira laughs at it--another night and the day after in the Buchmans' lives. Meanwhile, Paul finds employment at the Explorer Channel.
After a four year wait, the Buchmans finally have dibs on a parking space in a nearby garage, but still no car.
A long wait at the bus stop leaves time for the Buchmans to take a Cosmopolitan marriage test. (Clip show).
Inspired by a Martha Stewart idea, Sylvia organizes a high-noonish tag-what-you-want lunch for her family, complete with a shoot-out in the kitchen with Jamie.
At first, Paul has only a vague notion he knows who Jamie's interview at City Hall is with, but he figures it out and complicates matters when Jamie and Fran are about to land an important account.
Yoko Ono is in town for some film happenings and Paul tries to do something different for the Explorer Channel with her help.
With Murray around, the Buchmans are no dinks, so when Lisa demurs they are obligated to hire a professional to walk Murray. And Murray seems to prefer the newcomer to Paul.
Three lies, two shows and a realization as Jamie and Paul figure out ""why it will never happen"" to them, or so one is led to believe when their new friends turn out to be not quite what they pretend to be.
Paul and Jamie are obliged to spend New Year's Eve apart for the first time, but strange happenings in Times Square have a will and a way all their own.
Paul and Jamie try to time a love-in-the-afternoon rendezvous back at their apartment, but his family shows up at the most inopportune time, with Debbie springing a big surprise: she's gay.
Jamie throws out her back during adventurous sex on the floor, leaving Paul to help out with her duties at City Hall while also trying to get his father to an optometrist's appointment.
A night of cascading dreams of Paul and Jamie's, featuring ostriches, ducks and a party with the frug, with lots of interpretation and a poem (and a half) by Henry Gibson.
Ira resumes gambling, wins a lot, hands out generous presents and then takes a $4,000 bath--no problems for him, but a couple for the Buchmans.
Paul and Jamie embark on an organic fertility enhancement program with Mark's help, plus a day off at a fancy local hotel at Fran's suggestion.
Jamie tries a new look with interesting consequences, while Ira feels betrayed at the love game, let down by his quality wingman Paul, who digs himself a big hole discussing beauty.
The saga of a daisy-chain of favors, triggered by the young daughter of Ira's girlfriend wanting an autographed picture of the mayor, and complicated by Paul and his fancy new camera.
After talking to Fran, Ira and Mark the Buchamns realize that their friends are in a big fight due to Fran & Ira's recent relationship so Jamie decides to take everybody to dinner to straighten things up between everybody. Lance Brockwell decides to candidate for town major, so Jamie and Fran become the campaign managers. However, Jamie is not happy due to Paul's belief that Giuliani would be a better major. When Jamie asks Paul to make a campaign commercial, it turns out to be so great that everybody gets on Brockwell's side for which Paul is not too happy for.
The next step in the Buchman baby saga is trying to find out if Paul is the reason Jamie is unable to conceive. They rush to the hospital, but everything seems to be trying to stop them. First, they must wait for their neighbors to come to the elevator and then, when their car gets stolen, Paul must do his 'sample' all over again which is also interrupted by a car chase on tv which results to be Buchamns car chased by the NYPD bomb squad.
Jamie undergoes a minor diagnostic procedure and is quite smitten by her doctor so as Fran. Meanwhile, Paul's job is on the risk when the head people from his office find out that he did a commercial for Brockwell, due to crashing his contract rule. When Hollis walks in on Ira and Paul talking, Ira presents himself as Paul's agent and later saves Paul's job at the Explorer Channel.
Jamie tries to plan for a weekend getaway in Pennsylvania Dutch country, but Paul is preoccupied with his current documentary project about a weed to be interested. Meanwhile, Fran and Mark decide to get on the getaway that Jamie planned. Paul gets too stressed with his job and keeps on fighting with Hollis which leads them both to a surprising reaction of their boss.
Nominated once again for the Silver Sprocket, a reluctant Paul is coaxed into a tuxedo by Ira and expects to attend the ceremony with Jamie at his side to counter the weasels from the Explorer Channel and find new connections for new jobs. Of course, things don't quite work out that way.
After a week's reflection and ignoring Ira's emphatic advice not to, Paul decides to tell Jamie about his walk around the block with a female filmmaker he met at the Silver Sprocket Awards, except Jamie blurts out first the matter that has been on her mind all day: Berkus came on to her.
Ira and Lisa try to engineer the Buchman reconciliation, except it proves easier to resolve the scheduling conflict between Burt and Sylvia's 45th anniversary party and Lisa's engagement party.
Paul and Jamie take a walk through the park to talk their differences out by themselves. They succeed, and return to their apartment, where Jamie springs a surprise on Paul.
With Mark Devanow in Europe, a pregnant Jamie and Paul have to look around for a gynecologist, and Debbie tries to set them up with her girlfriend. Meanwhile, the elder Buchmans finally get to meet Debbie's ""friend.""
Jamie tries to stay awake, avoid coffee and continue to manage Brockwell's campaign. Meanwhile, while Paul is trying to figure out how to use a sizeable grant that has come his way, his Uncle Phil asks Paul and Ira to visit him in Brooklyn.
Months after setting it up, Paul and Jamie decide to keep their appointment with the therapist Fran referred them to, but doing so delays Paul's shoot of his parents' reminiscences, with some interesting consequences.
Having chosen the residents of Apartment 11-D as its parents, the baby in the making deals with musical interludes and parental cooing, and with lots and lots of choice moments from their years together. In other words, a clip show.
Filming of Paul's documentary takes him and Burt back to their old apartment building for the day, and events conspire to make Paul late for an appointment at Joan's office to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time.
The Stemples arrive at Paul and Jamie's for a two-day visit, armed with a surprise, and another soon follows.
The Buchmans decide the time and place of their grand announcement, but the leaks start early during Thanksgiving week.
While Ira counsels against it, Paul contemplates abstinence until July. However, Jamie has other ideas and talks Paul into a trip upstate where they chance upon a dessert item with magical powers.
Paul so likes playing the mystery man at a local gym that he talks Jamie out of working there, whereupon she hands over her free pass to a homeless acquaintance from the neighborhood.
Jamie finally lets her coworkers and Lance know about the baby, while Ira, turning money man and producer for ""Buchman,"" actually manages to produce a narrator, at least in voice.
A politically incorrect Jamie pays the price for commenting about Ryan's ability as a budding violinist, while a simmering Paul works up the nerve to confront their therapist about her overcharging ways.
The perils of engaging Paul and Jamie's handyman are visited upon Lisa, whose fiance is more than willing to finance Paul's over-budget documentary project.
Nat's sister, an astrologer, is in town and agrees to do charts for Lisa, Ira, Paul and a very reluctant Jamie.
The Buchmans promise to name their baby, if it's a boy, after Paul's ailing Uncle Phil, then find out his real name. Meanwhile, Paul is suddenly sure of the baby's sex.
Paul's great-uncle Marty dies on camera as he is being interviewed for ""Buchman"" and his cryptic last words lead to a few unexpected disclosures among the Buchman clan.
An enforced bed-rest of two to three days for Jamie means that Paul has to attend to her every need, and also deal with lack of heat in their apartment AND a kidnapping.
To escape Jamie's baby shower, Paul hits the road with Ira and Marvin in the latter's van, but his urge to tell insensitive jokes quickly leads to trouble.
Paul talks an unwilling Jamie into quitting her job at the mayoral campaign, but he is less successful in dealing with an exotic bird that flies into their lives.
A very pregnant Jamie insists on helping out at David (Paul's cousin) and Jared's new coffee shop, with disastrous results. Meanwhile, Ira and Paul help a pregnant woman on a bus.
Paul and Jamie flunk out of a birthday class that Joan has managed to get them enrolled in. Meanwhile, ""Buchman"" is being held hostage by the elder Buchmans.
Paul and Jamie are advised by their lawyer to select guardians for the baby in case of their death. But, to their astonishment, rejections pile up. Meanwhile, Jamie is flattered by the attentions of an 18-year-old Bobby Rubenfeld.
Theresa and Sylvia vie for the new crib honors, with predictable consequences. On another front, Paul wins big at poker but is paid off by Marvin in the form of specially-priced household chores.
As Paul's documentary gets a surprisingly good review at a film festival, Jamie thinks she is going into labor. So they rush to the hospital, only to find out it was a false alarm. This happens several more times, until it's finally for real.
Jamie runs into an old flame in a cab on the way to the hospital. Meanwhile, Paul gets a grand tour of the innards of Roosevelt Hospital courtesy of a film star. And, oh yeah, the baby arrives.
When Paul and Jamie drop their daughter Mabel off for her first day of college, it quickly becomes clear that they have very different ideas of what their lives after children will look like.
After too many surprise dorm visits, Mabel forces Jamie to sign a contract limiting contact for the next 48 hours, and suddenly Paul finds himself in the parenting hot seat.
Jamie makes the decision to get back into the work force, but time and menopause conspire against her. Meanwhile, Paul is invited to speak to Mabel’s class only after promising to Mabel that no one will know they’re related.
Jamie spins out when one of her meticulously crafted scrapbooks documenting Mabel’s childhood disappears. Meanwhile, Ira shocks everyone (himself included) when he asks Lucia to marry him.
Tonya oversees Jamie’s sessions as she transitions back into the workplace as a therapist. At the gym, Paul is going through a battle of his own as Mark is upset that Paul refuses to be naked around him.
Paul and Jamie pay a visit to the retirement home to visit Paul’s mother, Sylvia, and her new boyfriend, Ralph. Meanwhile, an unexpected visitor walks into Ira’s restaurant.
Paul and Jamie's concerns about mortality and getting their affairs in order are triggered when they attend the funeral of Paul and Ira's Childhood friend.
When Lisa is double-booked on her celebrity pet-sitting obligations, Jamie volunteers Paul to stay at Anderson Cooper's place, allowing him his first bachelor night in years.
Paul and Jamie are forced to make a tough decision about the future of their home when a wealthy buyer expresses interest in their apartment.
Following Sheila's advice, Paul and Jamie head to a marriage boot camp in the Berkshires in hopes of working out their issues.
Paul and Jamie help Mabel deal with the fallout after a school experiment goes awry; Jaime stumbles upon an unconventional way Tonya can help Donovan overcome his sleepless nights.
Paul and Jamie try to plan a surprise birthday party for Mabel while she intends to reveal a big surprise of her own.
