Frankie is made an example of in front of the entire class when she doesn't make a good impression on her first day of dental assisting school with no-nonsense teacher Mrs. Armwood. Meanwhile, because Axl's broken foot may end any chance of his receiving a college sports scholarship, Frankie and Mike insist that he up his grades and get himself a tutor; and Sue and Brick think they've stumbled upon an expensive item inside an old safe and try to get big bucks for it from a local pawn store employee.

Christmas doesn't seem so merry to Mike when he helps brother Rusty move some furniture into the Heck house garage and discovers that Rusty doesn't actually own the items. Meanwhile, Frankie hatches a plan to take a part time holiday job in a department store in order to get an employee discount to buy presents; Axl turns the garage with the stolen furniture into his own bachelor pad; and Reverend TimTom makes a bold choice by casting Brick in a holiday play and tasks an overly zealous Sue with baking cookies for the event.