Edith has been running herself ragged caring for Archie, Mike and Gloria, who have all come down with a terrible flu. This prompts her to call on her extremely liberal Cousin Maude to come and stay with the Bunkers and help out. Maude proves to be salt in an already open wound for Archie, who has never liked Maude and vice versa.

The Bunkers are celebrating Edith's birthday at an Italian restaurant in the city when Archie discovers that Edith failed to mail out a payment to the insurance company. This leads him to run across the street to drop it off. However, on his way he gets stuck in an elevator along with a pregnant Puerto Rican and her husband, an aging hippie, and an erudite black businessman