32-year-old Lydia DeLucca astonishes everyone by breaking off her six-year engagement and enrolling in college.
A series of financial setbacks prompts Lydia to consider dropping out of school.
Lydia is torn between dating a 23-year-old student and going back to Lou.
Lydia is concerned about Paulie when he moves in with her following an argument with their father.
Jackie becomes unglued when her irresponsible mother pays a visit. At the same time, Lydia threatens her relationship with Jackie when she chooses to attend a college lecture rather than keep a commitment; Lou inadvertently hurts Paulie's feelings.
Lydia starts to have second thoughts about breaking up with Lou when her biological clock starts ticking. Unfortunately, Lou is dating someone else; Jackie dates a certain doctor; Dolly revamps her look.
Lydia's relationship with her English professor could jeopardize both of their futures at the university; Dolly is depressed when Frank spends his free time in a karaoke bar; To broaden their horizons, Jackie and Candy join a Salsa dance class.
At the same time that a 13 year old prodigy is tutoring her in math, Professor Cahill stuns Lydia by suggesting that she drop his class so they can date; After canceling a date with Candy, Paulie and Candy both avoid each other, though for different reasons.
Lydia is upset when her lifelong role model for the modern independent woman gives up her idyllic life to get married to a man she has known for only three weeks.
Lydia is conflicted when Lou buys ""their"" dream house; Dolly gets hooked on the Internet; Jackie opens her salon to younger clientele.
After the death of one of her friends, Dolly divides her possessions between her kids while Lydia tries to spend some quality time with her; Lydia has trouble with a photography assignment; Paulie suffers an embarrassing on-the-job injury.
Lydia has the worst week on record when her car breaks down, her apartment is robbed, and she must struggle with a psychology paper; Jackie looks forward to her first date with Professor Leski.
The family becomes overly protective after Frank suffers a mild heart attack; Victor avoids dealing with his 11 year-old daughter; Candy reveals a startling revelation to Paulie.
After losing her job at the bar, Lydia has trouble making ends meet while meeting her community service requirement; Jackie is wary about trusting Victor; Paulie rebounds from his breakup with Candy by working closely with Plum on the campus watch.
Lydia's parents grow concerned about her continuing friendship with J.T.; Paulie gets the wrong idea about Plum when she rescues him by paying for their dinner.
To Dolly's dismay, Frank quits his job at the tollbooth without consulting her; Lydia tries to help J.T. get his G.E.D, despite his resistance; Victor proposes to Jackie.
When Lydia suspects Paulie of wrongdoing, she gets herself into trouble; Frank tries to start a new career as a restaurateur; Jackie ponders Victor's proposal.
In the week of Cucina DeLucca's grand opening, the DeLucca family has a scare when Lydia learns there's a lump in her breast; Paulie meets Plum's father.
Lydia and Jackie think they've hit the jackpot when they win $ 10,000 in the lottery. Unfortunately a man with a gun claims the ticket is his. When the friends figure out that the gun isn't real, they beat the man up only to have him sue them for $250,000.
A sprained thumb motivates Lydia to choose a major and inspire others; Jackie is faced with an unexpected pregnancy and a marriage proposal.
Lydia learns that a physical-therapy aid is assisting the football coach in getting an edge over the competition; Jackie has an unpleasant encounter with Victor's mother; Paulie and Plum elope when Dolly won't accept their engagement.
Lydia dates a hockey player and gets a false impression about him as well as Eric; a new employee starts working at the restaurant; jealousy gets the better of Paulie.
Lydia discovers that Eric's wife is having an affair; fed up with municipal bureaucracy, Dolly takes matters into her own hands.
Secrets continue to weigh down Lydia, who continues to keep mum about Paulie's marriage and Karen's affair; Dolly gets depressed when she learns a sordid secret about her father's past.
Paulie is frantic when Plum is reported missing on Halloween; Dolly is forced to entertain Plum's neurotic mother; Jackie receives a lesson in parenting from a lost trick or treater.
Lydia's romantic advances toward Eric fall on deaf ears; Paulie is worried by the arrival of Plum's old boyfriend; Jackie gets in touch with Ray's sensitive side.
Days before their official church wedding, Plum and Paulie reconsider the wisdom of being married; Lydia asks a hockey player to be her date for the wedding.
Scandal rocks Dolly's campaign thanks to a protest striptease by Lydia, and Paulie's decision to have sex with Plum in the park.
Lydia reconsiders a romance with Eric, who begins to rethink his relationship with Samantha; Dolly tends to the needs of a lonely voter.
Lydia helps an actor bring authenticity to the role of an Italian-American from New Jersey; Jackie's romance with Ray is threatened when his past catches up with him; Lydia has her own share of drama in keeping her new beau a secret from Dolly.
Jackie's conflict over leaving for Mexico with Ray or staying in New Jersey with a visiting Abigail puts a strain on her friendship with Lydia; Frank has difficulty in accepting a generous gift from Plum; Lydia is charmed into getting Mack's irresponsible brother a job at the sports clinic.
Cucina DeLucca silent partner Paulie doesn't stay quiet for very long after distant cousin Lorenzo arrives from Italy to help in the kitchen and ends up making drastic changes to the restaurant's menu and ambiance; a laid-up Jackie thinks she's witnessed a murder.
As Paulie's birthday approaches, he discovers that Jimmy is gay; Lydia finds a new apartment right above the Cucina, and reunites with Mack; Frank and Dolly get an unpleasant surprise when they enter Lydia's new place without knocking; Lydia discovers that Jackie and Mack had a brief affair fourteen years ago.
Lydia and Mack decide to move in together; Dolly and Frank are unhappy and decide to use reverse psychology on their daughter by pretending to like Mack; Jackie worries that Adele won't be able to cope with running the salon in her absence; Lydia begins to lose interest in Mack when she learns that he doesn't want children; Adele throws Jackie a surprise baby shower; Mack moves out of Lydia's apartment; Jackie goes into labor at the salon and Eric delivers her baby with the help of Dolly and Lydia.
Lydia advises a jock to pursue his dreams, encouraging him not to drop out of college; Jules returns for her grandson's christening; Jackie begins a quest to find her father; Paulie and Plum talk about having children; Jackie asks Frank to be Victor Francis's godfather.
Plum discovers that Gavin is the new teaching assistant assigned to her class; Valerie comes to the rescue when an attractive divorced friend tries to seduce Frank; Plum convinces Paulie to sit for the sergeant's exam, despite his lack of confidence; Lydia meets Gavin in the library and, unaware that he's Plum's ex-boyfriend, invites him to be her ""non-date"" for Plum's birthday party.