Father Knows Best

The family prepares for a trip to a family reunion. Jim finds a shortcut on a map they can travel to Margaret's family home. Alas, it is a rarely traveled road and their car breaks down. Jim walks to a small town and tries to find help.

Bud goes to college and quickly develops a crush on his attractive French teacher.

The governor is coming to town to dedicate a local park. The Anderson's gardener is chosen as the official greeter to the governor when he arrives. When Fronk shows up for rehearsal, the city mayor does not want Fronk since he is Mexican.

Betty returns a defective radio to a store and mistakes a customer for the store owner. She leaves without realizing Tom is a customer. The store owner gives Tom a replacement radio, and he takes it to Betty without correcting his identity.

Bud tries out for a position on the football team and bemoans the fact that the coach does not notice him. Betty tells Bud that the coach's daughter notices him. Bud decides to ask the daughter on a date as a way to get close to the coach.

Kathy does an inspection of the house for fire safety. The attic does not pass the test. Jim & Margaret start a clean up and find things from their younger days. They decide to go bicycling to relive some of those younger days.

Bud tells Kathy of the time he lied to get a job as a stock clerk.

Listening to a radio broadcast of a homecoming gathering, Margaret & Jim remember their college years, dating, and previous boy- & girl-friends, other homecomings, etc. Margaret gets flower and a mysterious former boyfriend.

Kathy sheds her tomboy jeans for a feminine dress.

Bud tries to talk Jim into buying a boat, but Jim says he has to earn his own money to buy it. Bud gets a job at a gas station, and Betty is infatuated with the station owner.

Jim acts as a mentor to a new, young insurance agent and asks him over for dinner. Bart feels that he can jump ahead of all the steps up the ladder and ends up stepping on Jim. Kathy feels the same way about one of her friends.

Margaret gets a letter about a Children's Clinic being built and that she is the General Chairman of the Building Committee. She realizes it is a mistake, but when her family ridicules the idea and her skill, she pretends she accepted it.

Betty's strong resemblance to a popular movie star gains her instant celebrity.

Jim helps Kathy finish her camp book by finding plant examples.

Bud makes Betty take the rap for his reckless driving.

An insurance magazine is going to interview the Andersons for an article in the magazine. The story will focus on their family unity and solid family life. Unfortunately, when the reporter shows up, the family is at odds with each other.

Betty takes up the sport of fencing.

It seems that all of Kathy's friends have a boyfriend for the community picnic. She has a crush on George, one of her classmates, but does not think he likes her. She decides to make up a boyfriend for the picnic so she looks popular.

The Anderson gardener, Fronk, is lonely but is interested in someone. Betty decides to help him by writing love letters to the woman, pretending she is Fronk.

A flashback to the episode where Bud studied a lot for a test at school.

Jim tells the family to be home at 4:00 for a big surprise. As the family waits for the announcement, everyone has their own idea of what it will be. Each thinks it will be something that benefits just them.

Jim must tell Arthur, a co-worker in the insurance company, that he has to retire as he has reached retirement age. Jim invites him to dinner with the Andersons and Arthur is full of energy. This only makes it harder for Jim to tell him.

Bud risks fifty dollars purchasing stock in a new copper mine company.

The Andersons receive a $500 check in the mail. A former neighbor wants to thank an Anderson for a kindness, but did not remember which one did it. The Andersons try to remember who might have done a favor for him, and what the favor was.

Kathy reminisces with Mother and Bud about the time she once thought she was adopted.