As Mike prepares to attend teacher’s college; Jason suggests that he teach some remedial classes at the local community center. Uneasy goings for Mike turn around; in part thanks to his best and brightest student; Luke Brower. But Mike discovers that Luke has a secret — he has no family or home. Luke soon finds himself at home with the Seavers; in Carol’s room. Too bad Mike forgot to tell Carol! Carol has a new old beau, Dwight. Ben has a crush on Sasha Serotsky and Chrissy wants a pony.

Moving out does not necessarily mean moving on, as Jason and Maggie discover when Mike and Carol move to the Big Apple together — to be roommates! As that arrangement goes about as swimmingly as the elder Seavers could have predicted, Ben struggles with life lessons about the true rewards of high school vanities, while Chrissy struggles just to get noticed by her busy family. Carol learns something about life on the other side of the tracks, and Maggie must confront her father’s mortality.

Mike gets engaged to Julie, the family babysitter, Carol finds her college plans derailed, while Ben starts to take after big brother Mike in all the wrong ways! It’s a good thing youngest Seaver Chrissy is still too small to put Jason and Maggie through their paces — so far! Start with near-matrimony and ends with a real funeral. Along the way, Mike returns to high school... as a teacher, Carol begins to mend her broken heart, Ben tries his hand at film-making, and Jason and Maggie revisit their domestic arrangement.

The more things change, the more the Seavers stay the same! And they do change, Mike is starting college, Carol is starting to get cynical, Ben is starting to date and Maggie is about to give birth! While Jason does his best to keep the family grounded, he finds his clan starting to chafe at their old roles — like when he tries to actually ground the 'grown-up' Mike. As father and son reconcile their changing roles, Maggie confronts her fears about labour and Ben has to deal with his new baby sister, Christine, stealing his birthday and his place in the family. But Big Brother Ben has more than enough Seaver sense to rise to his new role while the clan confronts new challenges.

Jason's ability to look at the bright side turns a family vacation in Maui — a vacation that would be called a disaster by anyone else's standards — into a positive experience. Back on Long Island, when their house is burglarised, the Seavers realise their sense of security is worth more than any stolen possession. Maggie gets hired at a TV station, Mike runs for student body president of his high school and, when Carol turns in an exam that she bluffed her way through because she didn't study and gets an A+ on it, she has serious doubts about the importance of grades and education.

Jason, Maggie and three on-the-go kids. Mike receives a car from his pleased parents after he's named Employee of the Month. (So how's he going to tell them he's been canned?) Mike's not the only one with secrets. Brainy Carol wants everyone to think she has a romantic extracurricular life with a hunky football hero. And what's up with 10-year-old Ben and those 67 calls to a sex line?