Chris' brother, Bernard (guest star Richard Cummings, Jr.), takes over the airwaves at KBHR, while Chris enjoys his vacation at a monastery in an effort to discover his "innermost secret center." Once there, he thoroughly enjoys his sparse surroundings and simple lifestyle until he is overcome by sexual desire for one of the monks. Having always been committed to loving women, he is completely bewildered by his own feelings. Ruth-Anne surprises Maurice by exercising the option to buy that was included in the original lease contract for her store. Maurice, who needs to be in control of everything, becomes angr with her for asserting her freedom. The two each play Ed against the other until he takes matter into his own hands and discovers a way to convince them not to ruin their twenty-year-lon friendship. Joel is stir crazy when two weeks pass and he does not have a single patient. He begins to beg the townspeople to schedule an appointment with him for anything - annual checkup, rash miscellaneous pain. Bernard and Marilyn both attempt to teach him to sit still, but to no avail.

Shelly's youthful mother, Tammy Tambo (guest star Wendy Schaal), visits unexpectedly to introduce her daughter to her new husband. Tammy admits that she has led her new love, twenty-four-year-old Kenny (guest star Sean O'Bryan), to believe that Shelly is Tammy's older sister. The two women have an argument and Tammy apologizes for not being a real mother to Shelly. Shelly realizes how lucky she is to have her mother as her best friend. A baby abandoned in Joel's waiting room is immediately taken in by the townspeople. As it is passed from person to person, everyone is very delighted with the appearance of the child and, much to Joel's dismay, no one questions who the mother might be or why the baby was left. Just as the town is falling into a routine of caring for the infant, and as Joel finally accepts that she is there to stay, the baby is reclaimed by her mother. When Joel compliments Adam on his cooking, he is shocked at Adam's congenial response. Confronted by Joel about this change in his personality, Adam explains that he doesn't feel like himself, he feels... happy. Joel suggests that he is suffering from Couvade Syndrome, sympathetic pregnancy, a condition in which men, in an attempt to mask their anxiety over their mate's pregnancy, displace their feelings with physical manifestations of pregnancy itself. The feelings eventually pass when Adam and Eve simultaneously enter their second trimester and Adam discovers he is more than just an extraordinary chefÑhe is also a husband, a teacher, a breadwinner, and soon, a father.

While Joel and Maggie are flying back from an Eskimo vaccination trip, her plane's engine fails and they are forced to make an emergency landing somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness. Joel is definitely at odds with nature so Maggie tries teaching him some basic survival skills -- like what not to eat or touch -- but Joel is too busy worrying about being attacked by anything furry. As the days pass, he submits to eating squirrel roasted over an open campfire and further surprises Maggie when he uses his surgical technique to get her plane engine going again. Cyndy Rincon (guest star Christine Elise), Shelly's best friend, arrives in Cicely announcing that she and Wayne have been married for six months and only recently did Cyndy find out Shelly never divorced him. But Shelly resolutely refuses to divorce Wayne. Shelly, always the most popular girl, finds it difficult to accept that Cyndy has taken her place and is living the life she used to -- while she is residing in Cicely. Cyndy explains how difficult it was to always be second best while Shelly reveals it wasn't great being perfect either. Realizing life goes on, Shelly agrees to divorce Wayne and asks Chris to perform the unknotting -- since he has the power to join people in marriage, he should also have the power to tear it asunder.

Maggie outbids Maurice to buy Cicely's only movie house and hires Ed as manager and film consultant and Heather Haines to work the counter. Trying to run a loose, employee-friendly ship, she silently gets angry when Ed schedules obscure cult films and Heather leaves early, arrives late, and poisons the customers with rancid butter on the popcorn. When Maggie gets so frustrated where she can't sleep or eat because of stress, she fires Heather and instructs Ed to book some mainstream hits. Although Ed is initially crestfallen and Heather is furious, the theater business picks up and Maggie gains the respect of Ed. Having passed his equivalence exams and written a thesis, Chris has to pass oral exams to earn a Masters degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Alaska. After Chris passes his first day of orals exams, he dreams that he is in heated battle with Poe, Shakespeare, Beethoven and Van Gogh and, after they are all slain, he is revealed as the enemy. He realizes from this dream that art speaks for itself and if you analyze something enough, you will figure out what it means. He moves his second round of orals to a baseball field that explains his conclusion -- the poem "Casey at the Bat" is about something in your gut -- which earns him his degree. Patrick Dulac comes to town convinced that Holling is his father since he has been sending Patrick and his mother monthly checks ever since he was a child. Since neither Shelly nor Patrick will believe the truth, Holling agrees that Patrick is his son and goes along with the charade. Breaking down, Holling finally bursts out that he murdered Patrick's father in self defense during an argument. Feeling guilty of taking away mother and son's source of income, Holling began sending money after he left town. Attempting to defend the honor of his father, Patrick challenges Holling to a duel but, when Holling refuses, Patrick calms down and the two begin to bond like family.