In 1954 Loretta Smith Sibley committed suicide in front of her son George. With the anniversary of September 9th approaching, George is haunted by her presence enough to distract him at home, repeats his habit of placing unwanted food in his pockets, telling Ruth he was saving it, and confesses to Maggie that he again needs therapy. Ruth also has to deal with Claire confronting her after she freezes her account since she's no longer in school. Billy buys her the camera she wanted to purchase herself as they consider leaving for Spain, but Ruth disapproves of the whole thing. Rico runs into but is rejected by Vanessa at a church dating meet, so dates his former replacement Angela. Brenda befriends a co-worker after her first counseling experience results in a physical attack, and Nate befriends his stepsister Maggie, a divorcée whose son passed away at a young age.

Lila Simmonds Coolidge passes away just before her 95th birthday...which she happened to share with Nate. This year, Nate's 40th is marked by the news that he'll be a dad, which he doesn't react to as enthusiastically as Brenda had hoped. Claire breaks off with Billy after a final night together because of his wild behavior off medication, while George's apologies to Ruth don't lessen her impatience toward his problems. Rico sleeps with Vanessa when he shows up to remind she forgot to pick their son up, but she ensures it will be the last time. At Nate's unwanted party where his mood is already low after accidentally revealing Brenda's pregnancy and creating more friction, a bird some consider to be an omen and others merely to be an annoyance continues to invade the house. When Nate is insulted for allowing its return by not closing the window it originally entered through, he takes out all his frustration on the bird.

Diabetic Daniel Holzenchenko succumbs to the call of canned peaches...and leaves behind 2 brothers and 2 sisters who seem unable to agree on anything from refreshments to music to be used at his funeral. While trying to mediate them, Nate also has to figure out how to convince Brenda not to tell Maya that she is her stepmother and her real mother Lisa is dead. David and Keith go to an adoption agency picnic where they meet Anthony, and choose to foster and possibly adopt him and his brother, when Mary's news about conception changes to news of an error. Ruth tells her knitting group her patience with George has officially ended, and at their urging convinces him to find an apartment for them and a job for himself - but actually plans to leave him with the apartment. Claire has a worse time leaving Billy, pressured by Margaret as well as him. Julio torments another student so Rico volunteers to go in and explains his anger is actually from his parents' divorce, but Vanessa confronts him about what he says. Nate is advised to make a choice about talking with Maya from an interesting source, and gets a surprising response from Brenda.