Julio has moved out of his house and Fred and Lamont decide to buy it and turn it into a boarding house and call it The Sanford Arms. To get enough money for the project, Fred and Lamont go down to the bank to apply for a loan but soon find themselves hostages in a bank robbery attempt.

Fred has been watching way too much television and Lamont suggests that he go out and get some exercise. Fred scoffs and refuses which leads to an argument which results in the television breaking. Lamont refuses to get it fixed until Fred agrees to start exercising. Lamont later brings in a doctor to hypnotize Fred to help him get over his television addiction.

Julio's house has been transformed into Fred and Lamont's boarding house called The Sanford Arms. Now they've come to the task of finding some boarders and soon find themselves bombarded with an endless supply of crazies, including a hooker, an ex-con, a hippie, a newlywed couple, and Hoppy's eccentric mother.

Fred wakes up one morning to discover what looks like a robbery took place but learns that there was a small earthquake overnight. Grady breaks the news that a big one is scheduled to hit on the 6th and a fed up Fred decides to sell the house and move. Meanwhile, Fred heads to Las Vegas to avoid the earthquake on the 6th and has a run in with Merv Griffin and Steve and Eydie.

Fred's sister, Frances and her white husband, Rodney have been having some hard times and they stop by to ask Fred if they could stay with him for awhile. Meanwhile, problems at the Sanford Arms has Fred considering giving Rodney a job as general manager. But Rodney may not accept it since he's scheduled to perform in an act at a nightclub.

Fred and Lamont are appalled when they see a sitcom, Steinberg and Son which amazing seems to be modeled on the life of Fred and Lamont. Fred and Lamont decide to check it out themselves and go to a taping of an episode and are shocked to see the similarites. In fact, the only thing different from the sitcom and Fred and Lamont's lives are the names of the characters and the fact that the cast is white. Lamont and Fred hire a lawyer and prepare a million dollar lawsuit againt the producers.

Lamont is a judge for the Miss Watts Business Wife and the winner of the pageant wins $1,000. Fred quickly makes it clear that he will do anything to get his hands on the money. He even agrees to transform Aunt Esther into an elegant beauty as part of a bet he has with her husband, Woody.

A tenant at The Sanford Arms doesn't have enough money for the rent so he leaves Fred his pet elephant as collateral. Fred quickly finds a city official on his back for keeping an elephant in the neighborhood and he quickly comes up with an idea to make some money: put on a mini-circus. Bubba plays a clown, Esther a fire-eater, and Lamont a weight lifter.

The Sanford home has become a campaign headquarters for the candidate Bob Williams and Fred wants nothing to do with it. However, once Fred discovers, Della Reese is working on the campaign of Williams' opponent, he goes all out for it even thought he's not for the candidate.

Lamont has been saving for acting school and has just enough money. Meanwhile, Fred sees a commercial for a get rich quick scheme and decides to give it a try. Thus, he invests Lamont's money in a supply of Whopper Choppers that he must try to sell. However, selling them is the hard part.

Lamont's friend, Ah Chew cooks dinner for the Sanfords one evening and a wary Fred is quite impressed at how good the food is. This leads Fred and Ah Chew to start a takeout business together with the headquarters in the Sanford home. Fred soon realizes that they should expand the business and turn the house into a Japanese restaurant.

Lamont leaves town with Rollo to go on a fishing trip but before he goes, he makes a bet with Fred. He is sure Fred won't make money during the week he is gone. Fred sets to prove him wrong by renting out Lamont's room. Fred finds himself in a bind when the pregnant girl he boarded goes into labor.

When a young girl, Penny Gordon follows J.J. home, she quickly insinuates herself into the Evans household and makes up stories about her life, including forgetting to mention she has an abusive mother. Meanwhile, the Evans family is getting ready for an upcoming carnival and Willona finds an old dress that would be perfect for Penny. When Penny begins to change into the dress, a stunned Willona and Thelma discover Penny's badly bruised back.

Willona and the Evans children are convinced that Penny is being abused but are unsure of what to do next. Meanwhile, everyone prepares for the carnival and they get decked out in costumes. On the way to the carnival, Willona and the kids discover Penny, with a possible broken arm, caused by her abusive mother. When Willona takes Penny to see a doctor about a broken arm, he refuses to believe she's being abused.

Willona and the Evans kids are stunned to discover that Penny and her mother have moved. They are equally stunned when they discover Penny hiding in the Evans apartment. Later, Penny's abusive mother abandons her leaving Willona to ponder adopting the battered youth.

Willona worries over whether or not she will be able to adopt Penny. Meanwhile, a well meaning, Bookman, tries to help out by telling the social worker, that he's married to Willona, this only makes things worse when the social worker learns the truth.

Willona is offered a new job working in security surveillance but her morals force her to refuse it. However, when Penny has her heart set on figure skating lessons, Willona decides to set her morals and values aside and take the job for the extra money. Meanwhile, Michael's coat is stolen and the Evans kids try to scrounge up extra money.

Willona's old boyfriend arrives back in town and asks Willona her hand in marriage. However, Willona turns him down since his job would have her and Penny constantly moving. Meanwhile, Penny, feeling like she's holding Willona back, decides to run away.

The Christmas season has the Evans family in the spirit and planning a Christmas Eve party. Meanwhile, while Christmas shopping for her mother, Penny gets her wallet stolen, and later steals a necklace from a department store in a desperate attempt to try to get Willona a Christmas gift. However, Penny's attempts may lead to Willona losing custody of her.

A hole has been burned into one of the couch cushions and J.J., Thelma and Michael each have their own versions of how it got there. In the style of Rashomon we each get a flashback of each person's version. However, Penny is the only person who knows the truth of how it really got there.

Thelma has written a full length play and is ecstatic when it is chosen to be produced as the local theater's latest production. Thelma quickly realizes a few changes to her manuscript may be needed, but it soon feels like almost everything will need to be changed to please the theater owner.

While J.J. is out of town at a convention, the Evans discover that a local day care center is closing down. In order to save it, everyone comes together to participate in an talent show. Meanwhile, Willona also turns to Alderman Davis for help and is unsure of how much it will cost her.

Willona adamantly refuses to discuss the birds and the bees with Penny especially after Willona learns a 13-year old friend of Penny's is pregnant. This leads Willona to tell Penny, that her friend has stomach mumps and not to go near her.

A snowstorm hits Chicago and Florida gets stuck in it with her school bus. This leads her and the kids on the bus to take refuge in an abandoned building to keep warm.

Florida discovers she must take and pass a physical examination to keep her bus driving job. However, the night before her physical is utter chaos ending with Michael landing in jail.

Willona's latest boyfriend, Jeffrey, has been showering her and Penny with extravagant gifts even though they've only been seeing one another for a couple months. Little does Willona know, that he is part of a plan to make Willona look like an unfit mother, a plan engineered by Penny's birth mother.

When Willona goes out of town, she leaves Penny in Florida's care. Shortly after, Penny comes down with a virus and Florida takes her down to the free clinic to be examined. Florida quickly comes face to face with the hardnosed doctor who's out of touch with the people in the ghetto and who's also planning to leave, right in the middle of what seems to be an epidemic.

This final episode brings all too good news for the Evans family. J.J. gets an offer to a comic company, Keith's bad knee is miraculously healed and is offered another football contract, and Florida is asked if she wants to move in with Keith and Thelma in the fancy apartment building across town where Willona happens to be moving and she just so happens to be her future next door neighbor. Meanwhile Thelma learns she is pregnant and she reveals it to Keith and the family.

When a young girl, Penny Gordon follows J.J. home, she quickly insinuates herself into the Evans household and makes up stories about her life, including forgetting to mention she has an abusive mother. Meanwhile, the Evans family is getting ready for an upcoming carnival and Willona finds an old dress that would be perfect for Penny. When Penny begins to change into the dress, a stunned Willona and Thelma discover Penny's badly bruised back.

Willona and the Evans children are convinced that Penny is being abused but are unsure of what to do next. Meanwhile, everyone prepares for the carnival and they get decked out in costumes. On the way to the carnival, Willona and the kids discover Penny, with a possible broken arm, caused by her abusive mother. When Willona takes Penny to see a doctor about a broken arm, he refuses to believe she's being abused.

Willona and the Evans kids are stunned to discover that Penny and her mother have moved. They are equally stunned when they discover Penny hiding in the Evans apartment. Later, Penny's abusive mother abandons her leaving Willona to ponder adopting the battered youth.

Willona worries over whether or not she will be able to adopt Penny. Meanwhile, a well meaning, Bookman, tries to help out by telling the social worker, that he's married to Willona, this only makes things worse when the social worker learns the truth.

Willona is offered a new job working in security surveillance but her morals force her to refuse it. However, when Penny has her heart set on figure skating lessons, Willona decides to set her morals and values aside and take the job for the extra money. Meanwhile, Michael's coat is stolen and the Evans kids try to scrounge up extra money.

Willona's old boyfriend arrives back in town and asks Willona her hand in marriage. However, Willona turns him down since his job would have her and Penny constantly moving. Meanwhile, Penny, feeling like she's holding Willona back, decides to run away.

The Christmas season has the Evans family in the spirit and planning a Christmas Eve party. Meanwhile, while Christmas shopping for her mother, Penny gets her wallet stolen, and later steals a necklace from a department store in a desperate attempt to try to get Willona a Christmas gift. However, Penny's attempts may lead to Willona losing custody of her.

A hole has been burned into one of the couch cushions and J.J., Thelma and Michael each have their own versions of how it got there. In the style of Rashomon we each get a flashback of each person's version. However, Penny is the only person who knows the truth of how it really got there.

Julio has moved out of his house and Fred and Lamont decide to buy it and turn it into a boarding house and call it The Sanford Arms. To get enough money for the project, Fred and Lamont go down to the bank to apply for a loan but soon find themselves hostages in a bank robbery attempt.

Fred has been watching way too much television and Lamont suggests that he go out and get some exercise. Fred scoffs and refuses which leads to an argument which results in the television breaking. Lamont refuses to get it fixed until Fred agrees to start exercising. Lamont later brings in a doctor to hypnotize Fred to help him get over his television addiction.

Julio's house has been transformed into Fred and Lamont's boarding house called The Sanford Arms. Now they've come to the task of finding some boarders and soon find themselves bombarded with an endless supply of crazies, including a hooker, an ex-con, a hippie, a newlywed couple, and Hoppy's eccentric mother.

Fred wakes up one morning to discover what looks like a robbery took place but learns that there was a small earthquake overnight. Grady breaks the news that a big one is scheduled to hit on the 6th and a fed up Fred decides to sell the house and move. Meanwhile, Fred heads to Las Vegas to avoid the earthquake on the 6th and has a run in with Merv Griffin and Steve and Eydie.

Fred's sister, Frances and her white husband, Rodney have been having some hard times and they stop by to ask Fred if they could stay with him for awhile. Meanwhile, problems at the Sanford Arms has Fred considering giving Rodney a job as general manager. But Rodney may not accept it since he's scheduled to perform in an act at a nightclub.

Fred and Lamont are appalled when they see a sitcom, Steinberg and Son which amazing seems to be modeled on the life of Fred and Lamont. Fred and Lamont decide to check it out themselves and go to a taping of an episode and are shocked to see the similarites. In fact, the only thing different from the sitcom and Fred and Lamont's lives are the names of the characters and the fact that the cast is white. Lamont and Fred hire a lawyer and prepare a million dollar lawsuit againt the producers.