Hope and Michael Steadman, Nancy and Elliot Weston, Gary Shepherd, Melissa Steadman, and Ellyn Warren are introduced as thirtysomething friends, relatives, and colleagues with an array of domestic troubles.
Hope's parents come to visit.
Michael freaks under the pressure of a dinner party and house renovations.
Nancy and Elliot fight publicly while out with Hope and Michael.
Gary and Melissa sleep together again while Hope and Michael have the date from hell.
"It's a Wonderful Thanksgiving, Hope!"
Michael and Elliot try to make the deadline from hell while suffering from a creative block.
Hope decides to return to work.
Melissa receives serious encouragement as a photographer while Michael discovers--surprise!-- that he has "Christmas issues".
Gary falls in love and falls apart.
Nancy and Elliot try marriage counseling.
A powerful executive takes a liking to Elliot and tries to woo him away, which makes Michael extremely jealous.
Elliot leaves Nancy and, amazingly enough, she doesn't fall apart.
While Melissa is busy falling for a doctor that she and Ellyn met in a video store, Ellyn has difficulties with Woodman.
Michael's father comes to Philadelphia for treatment for his terminal cancer condition.
Michael's father dies and they dispose of the estate while Michael struggles to resolve his relationship with his younger brother.
While Ethan isn't reacting well to the separation, he and Nancy work on a fairy tale about a prince in a forest.
Nancy goes on her first date after Elliot and Melissa breaks up with the doctor.
Emily Burch, Michael's friend from college, returns and temptation ensues
Gary faces rejection by the tenure board.
Hope and Michael go away for the weekend, leaving Janey behind and Ellyn and Woodman in charge of the house.
Hope tests the house for radon and discovers heirlooms from the family before them. Michael wants to have another baby.
Nancy makes progress in getting her book published, while Elliot dates a lawyer. Their divorce papers are finalized, but neither sign them.
Michael is back to having Christmas issues once again, compounded by Hope's car accident. Ethan and Nancy work Christmas arrangements with their kids.
Gary becomes involved at the Race Street Project and meets the director, Susannah Hart. Melissa meets Russell Weller, an artist. Gary and Melissa decide to have a kid together, but back out eventually.
Ellyn's parents get divorced.
Michael is called upon to work for an old college friend whose politics are "questionable."
Melissa gets a job shooting the cover to Carly Simon's new album while Michael struggles as the company goes under.
The company's last day is filled with reflections on their early days together.
Susannah discovers that she is pregnant.
Charlie Weston returns to town as Elliot makes some stark realizations about his own duties as a father when Ethan is hurt in an accident.
Ellyn's life falls apart, she develops an ulcer, and loses Woodman.
Michael works freelance with Elliot and they take the kids while the women go camping.
Michael and Nancy go to a writing class together while Michael and Elliot get hired at D.A.A. as a creative team.
Michael starts his new job at D.A.A. the day after Hope miscarries.
Melissa's grandmother falls ill and leaves her dress shop to Melissa.
As Nancy settles in with a new boyfriend and gets her book accepted, Elliot makes a huge play for forgiveness.
Hope writes an article on the Race Street Project, which causes tension with Gary.
Nancy's mother comes for a visit just as she and Elliot are reconciling.
Hope gets bogged down in a quagmire of missing the old romantic excitement of being a teenager.
Ellyn and Melissa join a video dating service.
Susannah has the baby.
After a near plane crash, Michael has Miles over for a dinner party. Nancy takes Elliot back.
Lee and Melissa face the age difference issue when all the friends meet while Russell Weller and Peter Montefiorre (from D.A.A.) sleep together.
Nancy's Mom has moved to the area from Indiana just in time for Thanksgiving. Ethan is worried about a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood, and Elliot reassures him.
Ellyn begins seeing Jeffrey Milgrow and Hope finds out, causing them to re-evaluate their friendship.
Gary's mom Aileen comes to visit when Susannah returns to work, and brings the couple to the realization that Gary won't be content as a house dad.
Michael works on the Oh My Pies acount and clashes with Miles' second in command, Karl Draconis.
Karl Draconis is forced to resign and Michael is appointed the Creative Director of D.A.A. Hope becomes even more involved with the Fairfield Incinerator Project.
Nancy's book is published as she is diagnosed with an ovarian growth.
Nancy recovers from her hysterectomy and her sister, Deb, is the only one who truly understands.
Ellyn runs into Jeffrey Milgrom again and they begin an affair.
Melissa's parents meet Lee and she secretly gets him a job at D.A.A.
Jeffrey leaves Valerie and moves in with Ellyn, bringing his daughter and their dog along
Melissa and Lee break up.
Nancy attends cancer support group and makes friends with a woman there who has a disturbing outlook on life and recovery.
John Dunaway invites Hope to interview for a job in Washington D.C. and she is tempted by thoughts of having an affair with him.
Gary and Susannah encounter financial difficulties, but find it hard to accept help from their friends.
Hope and Michael go to Arizona to visit her parents on their 40th wedding anniversary.
Elliot gets to direct a commercial about Philadelphia for City Hall.
Michael is approached by Minnesota Brands to engineer a hostile takeover of D.A.A. with the understanding that he will be made president once Miles is gone.
Conclusion (don't cheat and read what happens if you don't already know)
Hope and Michael's son Leo is born and Michael wrestles with his Jewish heritage and the issue of circumcision.
Nancy has difficulty being interested in sex after the hysterectomy.
Melissa and Miles date briefly and he pulls that scary, creepy thing he does. Jeffrey and Ellyn shop for an apartment.
Jeffrey dumps Ellyn while Susannah takes a job in New York.
Michael is forced to fire employees from D.A.A. on Halloween.
Hope deals with issues of perfection as she throws a surprise party for Michael's birthday.
Melissa gets a dream assignment with Vanity Fair which turns into a nightmare.
Ellyn and Gary become friends as she meets up with Billy Sidel again.
Nancy and Elliot deal with her cancer and the toll it takes on their family.
Everyone spends New Year's Eve at the Steadman's, where nothing yet everything happens.
Melissa stages a show of her work and re-evaluates her history with men, all of whom are featured in her pictures.
Billy's old girlfriend breezes through town bringing startling revelations with her.
Elliot returns to his hometown for a business trip and faces issues with his mother and with God while Nancy prepares for her final chemo treatment.
Nancy goes back for a second look surgery while personal tragedy strikes among the group.
A funeral is held.
Bachelor and bachelorette parties are thrown for Billy and Ellyn, with wildly different results
The marriage of Ellyn and Billy takes place in the Steadman home.
As things begin to fall apart at work, Michael struggles to deal with Gary's estate.
Elliot leaves DAA
Hope gets involved at a homeless shelter, then suddenly sees everyone else as an evil capitalist pig.
Stress from work brings Michael to the breaking point.
Melissa goes to California to shoot pictures for a story about a television star.
Michael contemplates returning to advertising and a move to California which brings his marriage to a crisis point.
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