A teenage girl tries to deal with her idiosyncratic, Luis Buñel-esque family while putting up with the pressures of everyday life, which turns out to be more difficult than it seems.
In the opener, Molly flirts with a hunky classmate, then flips when she learns her mom has invited him to dinner.
Molly is mortified to learn that her parents are planning to appear in a local theater production of ""Hair,"" which may include a nude scene. Meanwhile, Fred fumes over Harriet's attraction to his best friend.
Molly joins the school's cheerleading squad to be closer to Nick, but making the team comes at a price---her availability to the chess club. Elsewhere, Jerry and Rick grow mustaches as father and son compete to be more attractive to women.
Molly deals with a broken heart while trick-or-treat night in Wickettstown propels the Stage family into a frenzy of activity. The depressed teen is struggling to accept losing Nick to his ex-girlfriend and turns to her family members for help. Her hopes for aid are in vain, however, as Jerry obsesses over decorating the house, Mary strives to save money on candy by making her own taffy and Rick worries about losing his hair. To make matters worse, Molly learns a disturbing fact about her grandmother's new suitor, who promised to call Harriet after their first date.
Molly celebrates her 16th birthday and endures her family's bizarre rituals, which include peculiar songs and a seafood dinner at the same restaurant where cool kids from Molly's school are hanging out.
At school, Molly finds a discarded CD with an eclectic mix of love songs on it, and she sets out to find the person who recorded it. Mary, meanwhile, is angry with Jerry but won't tell him why; and Harriet meets a mime and develops an interest in the art.
Jerry sets Molly up with a high-school senior who works in his office and has nearly the same personality traits as her dad, but the teen has her heart set on a new student from England. Meanwhile, Harriet asks Grant to teach her to play the guitar; and Rick has money problems with a bookie.
Jerry agrees to house an exchange student from Brazil after learning that the girl plays on her country's Olympic soccer team. Meanwhile, Molly is upset that she can't go to a party with Nick because it's scheduled for the same night as a piano recital by the twins.
Molly suggests that Mary get a job to shake off her blues, but her advice backfires when Mary is hired as a lunch lady at Molly's school. Meanwhile, Rick is depressed after an attractive woman turns him down for a date.
Molly meets a cute guy outside her father's office, but soon discovers that the boy is the son of Jerry's business rival, a laser eye surgeon. Meanwhile, an attractive department-store clerk shows an interest in Grant, despite Rick's attempts to woo her.
Molly and Grant clean out the attic during a day off from school and accidentally spill paint on their mother's wedding dress; Rick baby-sits the twins in their room, where they force their brother to participate in a humiliating tea party.
Molly wins a chance to compete for a Dutch heritage scholarship for college, only to learn that her family isn't really Dutch. Meanwhile, Grant has trouble sleeping because of recurring romantic dreams about Mia.
Jerry decides to build a boat and he enlists his family's help, but the bulk of the labor falls on Rick's shoulders. Meanwhile, Molly bonds with the family of a guy she wants to date.
Harriet asks her family to stage a funeral for her and requests that her niece Tillie be allowed to attend, despite a rift that exists between Tillie and Mary. While Molly arranges the gathering, Rick struggles with the eulogy his grandmother asked him to write.
When Molly decides to run for student-body president, she casts Grant in a music video announcing her candidacy. At first, the Christian rocker has no office aspirations of his own and fully supports his sister's campaign. But the voters who see the tape think that he's the one competing for the job. His popularity soars, thanks to the video, and he decides to throw his own hat into the ring. Chaos ensues and even Rick gets sucked into the quagmire when he becomes the hairstylist for both candidates.
A baby is left in a bassinet on the Stages' porch with a note written by the mother claiming that Rick is the child's father. While Rick tries to find the woman, Molly is stuck caring for the infant and the twins compete with the new arrival for their parents' attention.
Molly discovers that the Stages aren't the only wacky family in town. Mr. and Mrs. Finn, the fairly odd parents of Molly's soccer teammate Cookie and her younger brother, Mine. The Finns believe that ""if you don't feel like it, you don't have to do it,"" a philosophy that includes allowing the kids to choose their own names. Not wanting to hurt Cookie's feelings, Molly endures two uncomfortable visits to the Finn house, only to later find the loony clan in her own home with the tense Stages playing host.
Molly becomes smitten with her pretty and popular chemistry partner's clique; Mary and Jerry's anniversary celebration goes awry.Molly's new lab partner in science class is Nick's current girlfriend, with whom Molly soon bonds after Nick dumps the popular girl. Meanwhile, Jerry arranges to take Mary to a swing-club outing to celebrate their anniversary, not realizing that it's not a dance group but rather a spouse-swapping coterie.
Molly teaches Rick how to be sensitive when he starts dating a new flame, but her efforts backfire when the woman dumps him. Meanwhile, Mary is obsessed with documenting her mother's past.
Mary enters Molly into the town's yearly Quahog Festival Pageant, which Molly doesn't even want to participate in until the teen hears someone insult Mary about her involvement in a previous competition. Meanwhile, Jerry recruits Grant to help him build a float for the festival's parade.
In Part 1 of a two-part episode, Molly develops feelings for her friend Ben and she considers asking him to the prom. Meanwhile, Rick learns that his name is on the deed to the Stage home and he inadvertently loses the property in a card game.
Molly prepares to attend the prom as the comedy series wraps up its first season with the conclusion of a two-part episode. What Molly had hoped would be a magical night with Ben, a pal she has a crush on, instead turns into a nightmare. After a shady gambler wins the deed to the Stage house from her brother Rick, Molly agrees to go to the big dance with the gangster's nerdy son so her family can keep their home. Meanwhile, Rick meets a sexy student who asks him to escort her to the dance, but his mischievous twin sisters decide to sabotage his evening.
