Frank and Carol go away for the weekend leaving Dana in charge. Dana has only one rule--no parties. The hotel is a dump but Frank and Carol try to make it work. Everything is going smooth until Frank throws his back out. At home, Dana has two friends over for a study group. Since she has two friends over, she allows each kid to have two friends as well. Eventually, a party breaks out. J.T. gets stuck in the chimney just before Frank and Carol get home and the fire department has to come over to free J.T.

Mark is doing homework for a classmate because he is being threatened. Carol feels that Mark should confront the bully in a peaceful way while Frank suggests that Mark defend himself. The bully happens to be a girl which gets Al's attention. Al begins to consider Mark a brother and sticks up for him. J.T. is running the 100M for the JV track team and breaks the school's record. Dana has to write a report on J.T. for the school newspaper. She writes a negative article but J.T. gets the typesetter to publish a very positive one.