An old friend of Kate's from high school is coming for a visit. Kate admits that she had a crush on H.J. Grant back then. His letter implies that he is now wealthy, and is coming back to the valley on personal business. Uncle Joe, however, believes that Herbie is a con artist after Kate's money. Uncle Joe decides he needs to break up any chance of a romance between Kate and Herbie. Orville finds a newspaper article that proves Herbie is wealthy. Now Joe wants Kate to marry Herbie. But Kate and Herbie want to remain just friends.

It's the first day of school and Kate is having trouble getting a couple of her daughters motivated to go. Betty Jo has a new friend, a little dog that follows her back from school. Kate refuses to let Betty Jo keep the dog, despite it being cute and well trained. Kate believes that he must belong to someone. Betty Jo brings him back to school, but he stills follows her home. Kate decides to let the dog stay until the owner claims him or until the dog starts to cause problems for the family. The dog does end up causing some problems, but Kate has a change of heart and let's him stay.

Henry Barton is dropping off his pregnant wife Elsie at the Shady Rest. While the baby isn't due for two weeks, Henry still wants someone to watch Elsie as he will be gone for three days. The women aren't at all worried, but Uncle Joe is quite concerned. Joe gets even more panicked when Kate tells him most babies arrive in the middle of the night. He comes up with an elaborate plan involving some of the men of the valley to get Doc Stuart to the Shady Rest if Elsie has the baby in the middle of the night. Without telling anyone, Joe has a trial run of his plan at 3am just to make sure it all goes smoothly. Everyone is quite mad at Uncle Joe. To make matters worse, Joe does it a second time. When Elsie does actually go into labor, it looks as though someone else will have to help with the delivery

Uncle Joe isn't thrilled with the idea of turning the Cannonball's baggage car into a mobile library. He likes even less having to build the library shelves. But after meeting her, Uncle Joe grows extremely fond of pretty librarian Phyllis Marsh. Despite their age difference, among other things, Joe is not shy about romancing Phyllis. Phyllis has to find a way to let him down easy without hurting his feelings, because she is actually engaged. Phyllis introduces her fiance Hal Jackson to Kate. Kate comes up with a plan to show Uncle Joe how inappropriate he and Miss Marsh are as a couple.

Sam, Charley, Floyd and Uncle Joe are rehearsing a reenactment of the signing of the treaty between the Umquaw Indians and the C&FW Railroad. The treaty gave Indian land in the vicinity of Deadman's Curve to the company. Joe thinks the reenactment will bring in tourists to the area and guests to the hotel. Meanwhile, Norman Curtis wants the company's stockholders' meeting to be held at the Shady Rest with Homer Bedloe presiding. Norman tells Bedloe he doesn't want anyone to vote for anything that would harm Kate or the people of the valley. Bedloe finds out about Joe's treaty reenactment plan. He then finds out that the Umquaw never signed the treaty according to C&FW files. Bedloe lets the Umquaw know. Despite not really wanting to do it, Chief Fleeteagle and Black Salmon make what will be a profitable deal for them and the end of the Cannonball. Kate may come up with the best deal of them all.

Hooterville has a long standing record of being the first community to have their political votes submitted to the state. Pip Winslow from Crabwell Corners is taking bets that they will beat Hooterville this year, because they have a new automatic voting machine. Hooterville may lose regardless because of a disagreement between Kate and Selma Plout. Selma threatens to cast her ballot late in the day just to spite Kate. A letter from the Governor comes addressed to the Hooterville Chamber of Commerce, which doesn't exist. So they can open the letter, Joe, Charley and Floyd create the Chamber. The Governor hopes they can extend their 20 year record. Kate believes she has a way for Selma to change her mind. Despite a couple of set-backs, Hooterville gets their votes in first.

Betty Jo wants to enter Dog in a contest to make a commercial for Tailwagger Dog Food. The winner also receives a $500 cash award. Kate tries to discourage Betty Jo because Dog doesn't have a chance against purebreds. The girls are thrilled when they receive a letter telling them that Dog is one of the five finalists. The letter also says that Mr. Talbot with the dog food company will be coming by to see Dog. What they don't know is that Henry Brewster, the local photo-finisher, who sent in both his and the Bradleys' entries, got the pictures interchanged. This means that Mr. Talbot was really naming Henry's collie one of the five finalists. But after meeting Dog, Mr. Talbot has an idea for a whole series of other commercials. He would like to use Dog and the entire family. Uncle Joe's meddling may ruin everything and Dog may have a say in how things go.

Uncle Joe shocks Kate by bringing home a buffalo! Kate tells him to take it back, but all sales were final. It's part of his scheme to dupe wealthy British sportsman Lord Harold Faversham into coming to "Shady Rest Hunting Lodge" to hunt wild buffalo. But, the buffalo is far from wild and the girls want to keep him as a pet. Another problem arises when Joe spooks the buffalo, who runs off, leaving Lord Faversham nothing to hunt for. Joe stalls Faversham for three days. The Lord is growing tired of Joe and threatens to sue, while the girl try to protect their new pet. Kate comes up with a way for Faversham to have all the hunting he wants.

Billie Jo is upset that the Cannonball is late and she believes it has outlived its usefulness. Meanwhile, Homer Bedloe, the Hooterville Cannonball's arch-enemy, has been having terrible nightmares about the train. To get rid of them, his psychiatrist Dr. Leonard suggests that he "learn to love" the Cannonball. The Cannonball has been encountering some broken tracks. Kate decides to let the C&FW Railroad know. Bedloe writes back that he will fix the tracks. When Bedloe visits the Shadyrest Hotel, he is surprised how friendly everyone is being to him. Everyone except Uncle Joe. But Kate was just gas-lighting Bedloe and didn't really believe the change in him when he said he loved the train. She finds out Bedloe is planning to remove the old damaged tracks instead of replacing them to shut down the Cannonball. Kate comes up with a plan to stop him.

Kate learns from Sam that the US Army is conducting war games in the area around the Shady Rest. Kate is worried about her three daughters because they are swimming in the water tower and wearing bikinis. Three lost soldiers from the Blue Squad - Hank Benton, Tod Langwell and Stu Howard - come to the Shady Rest after they spot the girls. Kate doesn't mind the GIs and the girls spending time together, as long as someone else is keeping an eye on them. General Patterson of the Green Squad arrives at the Shady Rest and is captured by the three GIs. More and more soldiers come by and they wind up having a large party. Kate manages to get the General to go along with things.

Uncle Joe has formed the Hooterville Volunteer Fire Department Volunteer Band. The band is so bad that it is driving paying guests away from the hotel. Joe hoped to raise money with the band to form an actual Hooterville Volunteer Fire Department. An upset Joe tells Kate she should come up with a better way to raise the money. After asking for donations only raises $62, Kates decides they need professional help. Kate wants to contact Henry Phillips, who works for a company that manufacture fire equipment, and ask his help. Calling in an outsider irks Uncle Joe and he says he can get all the equipment they need for the $62 they have. Joe winds up buying a bunch of junk. Mr. Phillips arrives and after a plan gone wrong by Joe, Kate finds a way to have Mr. Phillips get them what they need. Another plan of Joe's goes wrong and the Hooterville train station winds up burning down.

Mr. Richardson is a guest at the hotel. Uncle Joe tells him about the curse of Chester W. Farnsworth, a guest at the hotel fifty years ago. He was a traveling drummer and notorious hotel towel thief. Since then, Chester has been haunting all the hotels that he stole towels from. He has to return them all before he can end up in his final resting place. Joe figures it won't be long before Chester visits the Shady Rest. After Joe tells the story, strange events start to occur. Kate finds out that a bunch of salesmen who were supposed to be guests won't be returning until the curse has been lifted. When more strange things occur, Kate decides to talk to Doc Stuart. He recommends speaking with Dr. Melman, a psychiatrist and an expert is paranormal events. Something happens to make everyone believe that Chester arrived and the curse has been lifted. But did he actually show up?

Uncle Joe has been receiving and sending what appears to be love letters. Kate eventually learns that Joe is writing to Mary Alice Perkins. Kate is upset because Mary Alice stood Joe up at the altar several years ago and ran off with his best man, George Perkins. Joe tells Kate that George has passed away. He also admits he never loved anyone but her, and that he has now forgiven her. It seems she is coming to the Shady Rest to marry Joe. When Mary Alice arrives, Kate is put off by her snobbish ways and meddling. Boo Boo Webster, Mary Alice's lawyer, shows up to give the bride away. As the wedding starts, Dog brings Joe a letter that says Mary Alice has run off with Boo Boo. Everyone is kind of relieved, including Joe.

Billie Jo wins a contest at secretarial school and is offered her first job. She will be private secretary to author Oliver Fenton. World traveling Fenton is coming to Hooterville because his next book is based in a small town. He has rented one of the houses in town. Selma tells Kate that Fenton writes "those kind of books". After reading one of Fenton's books, Kate tells Billie Jo that she can't work for him. Uncle Joe tells Kate she has to trust Billie Jo. When Billie Jo meets Fenton, she finds him to be a graying old man. She now knows that her mother's worries are ill-founded. After Kate sends some spies to check on her, Billie Jo decides to have a little fun and test just how much her mother does truly trust her. Kate goes to confront Fenton and realizes Billie Jo was playing games with her.

The girls are upset that they don't have a telephone at the hotel. They can't communicate with their friends and are social outcasts. Kate says it would cost $800 for the telephone company to install two miles of line just to get to the hotel. The girls have to get their calls at Drucker's Store and it's starting to disrupt his business. Sam refuses to take any more calls for them. Uncle Joe decides to start his own telephone company. He plans on using the barbed wire fencing surrounding all the local farms as the primary communication lines. He also plans to tap illegally into the Hooterville Telephone Company's line, but Sam doesn't let him. Joe comes up with a really complicated alternative. It's not long before the whole plan falls apart.

Volunteer fire chief Uncle Joe has designed a new nighttime alarm system. When a valley resident sets off a skyrocket in the event of a fire, a volunteer will fire off a cannon. But there soon is opposition to Joe's plan because, even though the canon fires blanks, things still get damaged. A fire breaks out on the Cannonball. Because Joe has all the fire equipment at the Shady Rest, Sam has to call the Crabwell Corners Volunteer Fire Department. Joe challenges Bink Sharfells, Crabwell Corners Fire Chief, to see which volunteer fire department is the best. When none of Hooterville's firefighters want to accept the challenge, it looks like Joe will lose by default. Kate and the girls offer to help. The contest winds up a tie. Joe suggests a game of checkers to break the tie. Bink loses the game to Dog.

The Cannonball has temporarily ceased operations. The reason is a bird has built a nest on top of the smokestack and has laid five eggs. Charley and Floyd refuse to move the train until the eggs have hatched. They figure it will be two weeks before they hatch. When Homer Bedloe hears of this news, he is all in support of what Charley and Floyd are doing, he even puts an article in the paper about it. But he has a reason why he wants to help the birds: If the train doesn't run for two weeks, he can shut it down permanently. Homer shows up at the hotel and Kate is suspicious of his motives. Billie Jo and Betty Jo overhear Homer's plan and tell Kate. Kate comes up with a plan to save both the Cannonball and the birds.

O'Donnel's, a new supermarket, has just opened in Pixley. Sam hasn't had a customer since it opened. Even Uncle Joe goes to O'Donnel's to check it out. While there, Joe manages to annoy Mr. O'Donnel. Kate and the girls are still loyal customers of Sam's. Sam starts to have anxiety attacks and doesn't recognize Kate and Betty Joe. Kate and Doc Stuart convince Sam to take a two week vacation. Kate and the girls agree to look after the store for him. They decide to reorganize the store. Kate briefly leaves Joe in charge of the store and he puts in an overly large grocery order. This could cause irreparable damage to both the store's financial health and Sam and Kate's sanity.

The Governor announces that he will make a grassroots tour of the state. Uncle Joe is excited by the news, but no one else seems to care. The Governor has not announced his itinerary, but he is welcoming invitations from interested communities. Joe hopes to be able to advertise that the Governor slept at the Shady Rest. Joe says he sent an invitation and believes that the Governor is coming to Hooterville. Joe has a hard time organizing a welcoming as everyone is still not that excited. When the Cannonball arrives, there is no Governor. Turns out Joe forgot to mail the invite

Uncle Joe sees some surveyors down by the railroad tracks next to the hotel. He mistakenly believes that a new road is going to be built there. Kate learns from surveyor Ralph Craig that the last survey done twenty-five years ago was incorrect. The new survey shows that the border between Hooterville County and Pixley County runs right through the Shady Rest. Joe and Kate find out there's money to be made from curiosity seekers. Mr. Travis, from the Pixley License Division, tells Kate there's a lot of red tape in operating a business in two counties. Licenses and fees required could cost her in the thousands. Mr. Lindley, from the Health Dept., also finds costly problems. Mr. Dixon, from the Pixley Building Dept., finds more issues. Kate comes up with a permanent solution with the help of the Cannonball.

Uncle Joe mentions investing in the stock market and Kate reminds him about the bad stock he had her invest in once before. Meanwhile, the hot water heater in the hotel springs a leak. They'll need to buy a new one. Joe suggests selling stock in the Shady Rest Hotel Corporation to pay for it. Sam is willing to sell Kate a heater at cost for $97.50. Kate doesn't have that much. She also gets turned down for a loan at the Pixley Bank. Joe sells stock to Sam, Charley and Floyd to cover the cost of the water heater. They do this because they know Kate wouldn't accept a loan from them. Kate is not happy and still considers it charity. She comes up with a plan to teach Joe a lesson. Mr. Guerney, from the bank, brings Kate some good news.

Crabwell Corners is suing the Town of Hooterville for possession of a Spanish-American War cannon. Crabwell Corners feels it is rightly theirs. Meanwhile, Tad Winslow of Crabwell Corners challenges his lazy dog, a blood hound named Speedy, against Betty Jo's dog in an obedience contest. If Tad wins, Betty Jo has to get Billie Jo to go with him to the upcoming Pioneer Dance. Betty Jo finds out that Billie Jo already has a date with her steady, Henry Brewster. Kate and Uncle Joe want to speak to the Winslows to call off the bet. But things intensify, with now the winner getting either the Crabwell Corners' fire engine or the Spanish-American War cannon. To make matters worse, Kate and Joe find out that Speedy isn't Tad's dog after all. Tad has a well trained German Shepherd. The day of the contest arrives. The score is close, but Dog pulls a trick of his own and wins.

Kate's spring cleaning coincides with the US Air Force doing maneuvers over the valley. Part of those maneuvers includes testing out a new high powered camera. It looks like an ordinary black box with wires coming out of it and is set to explode twelve hours after any unauthorized removal from the plane. Colonel Millbank, who is flying the aircraft, accidentally loses the camera. It winds up landing on the Shady Rest property. Joe finds it and thinking it might be valuable, brings to the hotel. But as often as Kate and the girls try to get rid of it, Dog keeps bringing it back. General Elmer Loomis and Millbank make it to Hooterville. With little time to spare, they get to the hotel and start searching for the box. Dog brings them the box with no time left. However, the box winds up being a dud and doesn't explode

Kate has a lot of outstanding debts, plus she hasn't made a mortgage payment in six months. Mr. Guerney, the President of the Pixley Bank, informs her that there is a new majority shareholder of the bank. Because of this, she has two weeks to pay $138 on her mortgage or the bank will have to foreclose. Mr. Guerney didn't tell Kate that the majority shareholder is Homer Bedloe, who hopes to ruin Kate. The girls say they will get part time jobs to help raise the money. Kate gets a job as a short order cook, but she doesn't last long at it. Kate and the girls do come up with the amount needed, but some of it's in I.O.U.s. Bedloe says that isn't good enough and still wants to foreclose. Mr. Guerney comes up with a way to give Kate a little more time.

In this second half of a two-part story, Homer Bedloe has controlling interest in the Pixley Bank and has fired its President, Mr. Guerney. He has decided not only to foreclose on Kate's mortgage, but foreclose on all the bad mortgages in the valley. That will make the Cannonball's services useless. The Shady Rest is going to host a Monte Carlo night as a modest fundraiser. Whoever wins the most fake money by the end of the evening wins the secret grand prize. Betty Jo's friend Willie gets vibrations off of the roulette wheel and can guess the number every spin. Uncle Joe wants send Willie to Vegas to win enough money to solve all their problems. With Willie's help, Kate comes up with a plan to save the valley and get rid of Bedloe.

Because they don't have one, Uncle Joe wants to be named the Mayor of Hooterville. And as mayor, he would get an all expenses paid trip to the state capitol for the state's mayors' convention, and a free haircut. Sam, Charley and Floyd think that having a mayor isn't such a bad idea, but the person should be elected. They and the girls convince Kate to run, even though she really doesn't want to. When Joe learns Kate is running, he decides to move out of the Hotel. Selma Plout will do anything she can to make sure Kate doesn't win. She even becomes Joe's campaign manager. Selma also has another reason to help Joe, she would like to be the mayor's wife. Kate comes up with a plan to get both her and Joe off the hook.

Hinky Mittenfloss, the new dog catcher, is constantly trying to catch Dog. Hinky now believes that Dog killed three of Luther Craig's chickens. He takes Dog to the County Dog Pound where he will eventually be put down. Kate, Betty Jo and Uncle Joe consult with lawyer Melvin Randall. Melvin thinks that Kate is more than capable of handling the case before a judge. Though hesitant at first, Judge Murdock allows the case to proceed. With the help of a cat, Arnold the pig and Dog, Kate almost wins the case. But Dog grabbing Joe's chicken sandwich seals his fate. That is until Betty Jo wakes up from her dream.

Music Professor Lieberschmit recommends that would-be singer Bobbie Jo go to New York City for three months to take singing lessons. Kate barely manages to borrow $300 for Bobbie Jo's trip from Mr. Guerney at the bank. Billie Jo announces that her secretarial school is giving her a chance for a secretarial job at a Hollywood studio. Along with the job there is also the possibility of a screen test. Kate is able to get an extra $100 from Mr. Gurney. Then Betty Jo announces that she has received a Phys-Ed scholarship at a school in New Hampshire. Kate figures that only one girl can go and now has to decide which one. Before Kate can, the girls decide Billie Jo should be the one. Billie Jo says she has fallen for a boy and that Bobbie Jo should go. Bobbie Jo says it will cost too much in New York and that Betty Jo should go. Betty Jo says she found out it's an all girl school and doesn't want to go.

Fed up with chopping wood for Kate's old wood-burner, Uncle Joe tries to convince Kate to buy a new electric stove. Joe tells Kate that people have stopped coming to the hotel because the old stove is ruining her cooking. Joe writes to New York food critic Lucius J. Penrose and asks him to come to the hotel to taste Kate's cooking. With a new oven and Penrose's stamp of approval, the hotel could be famous. Joe sabotages the old stove and then tells Kate he has already ordered the new one. The new stove shows up, but it has to be put together. Penrose arrives and is not impressed with the new oven. He says that the only reason he agreed to come was to get a meal cooked on an old fashioned wood burning stove. Kate winds up cooking the meal in the Cannonball's wood burner.

Betty Jo is giving up baseball to devote her life to science. The family finds out that she has a crush on Roland Barrett, her new science teacher. Dog brings home a large animal bone which Betty Jo takes to Roland. Roland is very interested in the bone and would like to find out where Dog got it from. Dog brings home more and more bones and Roland believes they could be from a brontosaurus. The family starts to believe the bones are buried below the hotel. Kate is not thrilled when they start digging a hole in the lobby floor. Clarence McGill, curator for the Pixley museum, comes to the Shady Rest. It seems the museum has been closed for repairs. Clarence caught Dog sneaking in and stealing the bones from the baby brontosaurus skeleton.

Their latest traveling salesman guest sneaks out of the hotel without paying his bill. Kate and Uncle Joe find a guidebook for traveling salesmen listing certain hotels that can be scammed. Joe's name is mentioned as an easy mark. Harry Harmon, the owner of a traveling circus, has a similar guidebook. He plans to con Joe into letting the flat-broke circus troupe take up lodging at Shady Rest. Harry claims he'll pay for 5 rooms and then he sneaks in the rest of his performers. Kate becomes suspicious when she thinks she sees people that haven't registered, more food is being consumed than should be, and she hasn't seen any money yet. Kate finds Harry's guidebook and, realizing that she has been taken, kicks everyone out.

Note: This episode is the last one to be filmed in black-and-white and the last one where Jeannine Riley plays Billie Jo and Pat Woodell plays Bobbie Jo.

Sam has added an advice column called Dear Minerva to the newspaper, and Sam is Minerva. Kate thinks that the column should be written by a woman. Sam convinces Kate to be Minerva as long as no one knows it's her. Kate has a hard time writing the column in the hotel without anyone finding out. The column becomes a big hit, but writing it and taking care of things at the hotel takes its toll on Kate. Sam gets a call from a large newspaper that wants to syndicate the Dear Minerva column. He writes a note about it to Kate. The girls intercept the note and, misunderstanding what Sam wrote, they believe Sam and Kate are in love. They write to Minerva and ask her advice. "Minerva" eases the girls concerns and announces that this is her last column.

Oliver Wendell Douglas and Lisa Douglas are staying overnight at the hotel. They are moving into their newly purchased farmhouse, the run down Haney place. When Joe finds out that Oliver is a lawyer, he wants to ask him how to get out of jury duty. Oliver inadvertently gives Joe an idea and Joe gets Kate to take his place. Joe finds out that he won a television set in a raffle, but he has to claim it by noon tomorrow. At first Joe can't find the ticket, then he remembers it's in the suitcase that Kate took to Pixley. As hard as he tries, Joe can't get a message to a sequestered Kate. Kate does come home in time, but something else prevents Joe from claiming his prize.

Betty Jo and Bobbie Jo and a group of friends are trying to plan a fund-raising stage production to buy some playground equipment for the kids. Because of casting problems, Betty Jo comes up with an idea: rewrite the play for an all canine cast with Dog in the lead. Lawyer Arthur Bronson arrives at the hotel. He informs them that a former guest of the hotel, Mr. Kroger, who has just passed away, has left $200 to Dog. Dog is generous to his friends, and wants to buy them things. But Dog is letting the money and fame go to his head. Dog learns the hard way that fame and wealth can be fleeting, and that keeping to commitments is more important.

Bobbie Jo is entering an upcoming spelling bee, but it may be a losing battle against stuck up but excellent speller Henrietta Watson. Cora Watson, Henrietta's equally stuck up mother, protests Sam's appointment as judge since she feels he will be biased in favor of Bobbie Jo. As such, Oliver Douglas, is appointed the new judge. Bobbie Jo doesn't have the confidence to win, until she finds a scarab ring. Now it seems she is flooded with good luck. Slowly, the family begins to believe in the power of the ring when they too get what they want when wearing it. Uncle Joe loses the ring and buys another one. After winning the spelling bee, Bobbie Jo realizes it wasn't because of the ring.