Vint and Naomi's wedding takes place, but upon discovering that their business deal was a scam that cost them all their money, the family returns to live in Mama's house.
Eunice starts listening to a positive-thinking tape and her outlook is transformed into newfound optimism and self-confidence, but her cheeriness quickly fades as she is pushed around by the people in her life.
In another flashback episode, Vinton gets a call from his ne'er-do-well friend Claude Canemaker, who needs $250 to post bail, and Vint secretly pawns Mama's silver when no one will lend him the money.
Mama's cousin Gert (Imogene Coca), once a spirited and vivacious woman, is now in a nursing home that has left her sedate and lifeless.
Two years after the final NBC show, Fran has just died of "natural causes" and Mama is determined to give her late sister something she never had: a "perfect day", but one disaster after another strikes.
Mama, Iola, and Naomi decide to have to a chili cook-off (with Vint as judge), with the winner getting her recipe in the church-bazaar cookbook.
When Mama makes a bid to be President of the Church Ladies' League, she decides that she must charm Reverend Meechum and his critical wife Alberta by inviting them to dinner.
Vint plays golf with three men who mistakenly believe that he is a stock-market insider, and Mama goes on the hunt for a special Hawaiian lamp, while doing her best to avoid the "beach bum" who has been following her around the island.
When Mama finds herself alone in the house all weekend after Iola, Bubba, Vint, and Naomi leave town, it seems like a dream come true — until boredom and loneliness set in.