In an attempt to make Thanksgiving more enjoyable than last year's debacle (which we see in flashbacks), Dharma and Greg devise a plan to entirely avoid their families. When it becomes clear how much this has hurt everyone, the pair wind up more stuffed than any turkey after eating four Thanksgiving dinners: their own, one cooked (barely) by Kitty, another with Abby and Larry, and a fourth with Celia's family -- who have a fight that top last year's.
A newly rich Paul thinks Caitlin is hitting on him. The mayor wants a senator's endorsement and invites him, along with his staff, to Gracie Mansion for Thanksgiving. The senator thinks that Mike and Caitlin are a couple so they must share a room. Stuart and Deidre are back together.
Finch is in denial about his divorce and Nina's reporter friend wants to turn it into a major news story. Elliott introduces his visiting lumberjack friend to Maya and becomes jealous when they hit it off. Maya and Elliott kiss. Part one of two.
Dick is confused when Nina won't let him accompany her to her Black Student Union meeting, believing it to be a Weight Watchers type club; so, in an attempt to understand the concept, he mistakenly takes the Solomons to a racist white power rally. Dick realizes that the rally was a bad idea, and tries to make it up to Nina by firing her, to release her from what he calls her 'servile role' (as he and Mary's assistant), but she informs him that she is happy in her job. Meanwhile, Sally, Harry and Tommy are preparing to take part in a poetry competition and decide to use racism as their subject.
On Thanksgiving, Buffy encounters the spirit of a Native American warrior whose people were wiped out by settlers.
The arrival of Bill's mother in the household proves detrimental to Declan's discipline.
As Becker continues to recoup from his gunshot wound, he's caught off guard when Elizabeth claims that she doesn't have any aspirin -- although he found a bottle of them among her things while earlier snooping through her purse. Becker, of course dismissing his own bad behavior, is miffed at her actions and begins to think that she may not have an honest bone in her body. Meanwhile, Bob wins the lottery.
Mel arrives home late and expects to be grounded by Brian and Sophie but isn't. She keeps trying to get into trouble until she comes home with a Walkman she says she stole. Josh tries to get a date with Tanya Thomas (Zoe Thorne), so he enlists Brian's help. Brian morphs into Josh and asks out Tanya's friend, Denise, who fancies him. When the two girls meet each other on the day of the date, they both start hating Josh.
Ally's Thanksgiving turns into a debacle when she invites her colleagues and her parents to her apartment for dinner.
During a girls swim out in the ocean, Allie discovers a rare gold coin dating back to a ship that was lost in 1941 during World War II which allegedly contains un-circulated gold coins and rare artifacts somewhere off the Hawaiian coast.
Inspired by how well the Barones got along at the Thanksgiving dinner, Debra is intent on finding a way to improve her relationship with Marie, and decides to spend a whole day cooking with her. Meanwhile, Ray gets roped into having Frank and Robert accompany him to a car show, where he has his own method of getting along with his family.
Thanks to Aphrodite, Xena is trapped in the body of a little girl and must help the child deal with the grief over her mother's death, while Gabrielle and Aphrodite separate the two before sunset as well as keep Xena's body safe from the bad guys.
In an attempt to get away from Carrie's friends for Thanksgiving, Doug invites Spence over.
Liam investigates if Jack Patches, that allow fans of the combat game Pa'dar to feel the feelings of the warriors, causes seizures.
Eric Camden, a minister, and his wife Annie deal with the drama of having seven children, ranging from toddlers to adults with families of their own.
Will Truman and Grace Adler are best friends living in New York, and when Grace's engagement falls apart, she moves in with Will. Together, along with their friends, they go through the trials of dating, sex, relationships and their careers, butting heads at times but ultimately supporting one another while exchanging plenty of witty banter along the way.
When an assistant district attorney is found raped and murdered in Central Park, the Special Victims Unit learn that she’d been stalked by a real estate agent whom she’d convicted of date rape. Benson lets her emotions get the best of her as she takes it upon herself to bring the suspected rapist to justice. Stabler tries to get the man's business partner to help him, but Benson may be the one who ends up needing help.
Nikki's haughty sister and her daughter come for Thanksgiving dinner and she bosses Nikki around which Nikki uncharacteristically endures.