A self-reliant Maggie chides Joel for being helpless when he's beset by problems; Ed's uncle Anku, a medicine man, refuses medical treatment; and Chris reads Walt Whitman over the airwaves, angering Maurice, who prefers show tunes on his station.

Joel is asked to be Holling's best man, but his mind is on helping Maurice sell Alaska to two Japanese businessmen in hopes of playing golf at their proposed resort.