The first season begins with ten main characters: housemother Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae), headmaster Steven Bradley (John Lawlor), teacher Emily Mahoney (Jenny O'Hara), and seven students: Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel), Cindy Webster (Julie Anne Haddock), Molly Parker (Molly Ringwald), Nancy Olsen (Felice Schachter), Natalie Green (Mindy Cohn), Sue Ann Weaver (Julie Piekarski), and Tootie Ramsey (Kim Fields).
The show aired four weekly episodes on Wednesday nights in August and September, technically before the 1979/80 TV season actually began.
(The initial episode was a special presentation on Wednesday night after Diff'rent Strokes; the show then moved to Fridays.)
Natalie and Tootie tag along when they head to a bar in a borrowed van with fake IDs, and soon they all end up in trouble.
Tootie takes her job as dorm monitor very seriously- much to the annoyance of the other girls, who sneak wine and beer into their room.
Tootie begs Mrs. Garrett to bring her to a Jermaine Jackson concert, believing that the singer personally invited her.
Mrs. Garrett attends a prestigious cooking academy in Paris while the girls escape their cultural exchange program and have adventures- Blair soaks in the city and looks for romance, Jo heads for Le Mans and meets a charming biker, and Natalie and Tootie spend time with a struggling writer and try to inspire him.
Blair and Jo start college, and Mrs. Garrett quits Eastland and opens her own gourmet food shop and catering business.
Mrs. Garrett is feeling the pressure of a busy shop with Jo at home for the week and Tootie distracted by her boyfriend Jeff, who seems to have changed at college.
Blair worries about being seen cruising, Tootie tries to win a radio contest, Jo is excited to spot cars and motorcycles, and Natalie just wants to scout guys.
Part 1: Jo begins to see her photography professor, Sam (Kristoffer Tabori), and the rest of the girls are super invested in the relationship.
Mrs. Garrett needs help for a big catering job, and hires an eager neighborhood boy named Andy.
Mrs Garrett’s high school sweetheart Ted and his son Kevin stop by the shop on their way to Canada.
With the freezer on the fritz, Mrs Garrett opens the shop on Sunday and enlists Tootie, Natalie, and Andy to sell cheesecakes.
Tootie gets caught up in the moment and invites a ton of strangers over for a party, Jo gets wooed by a rockstar, and Natalie frets about a hurricane.
Blair is desperate to get home after the car is stolen, Tootie harps on the details, Jo wants to steal a souvenir, and Natalie refuses to believe the place should close.
When a competing croissant shop opens, Blair takes it upon herself to make sure Edna’s Edibles remains on top, and the power goes to her head.
The girls return from summer break to find the store gutted by a fire, and they are shocked when Mrs. Garrett reveals that she might not want to rebuild.
Jo thinks she has her future figured out when she begins student teaching, but a big company wants to talk to her about a software position.
The girls don't want Mrs. Garrett to worry when the police plan a stakeout at the shop to catch criminals selling counterfeit bus passes.
After a misunderstanding about Blair's birthday wishes, the party performer herself (vaudevillian Betty Kean) ends up staying with the girls.
In part one of the season seven finale, Mrs. Garrett returns for Tootie's graduation in time to learn what she and Natalie plan to do about their own futures.
In the conclusion of the season seven finale, Natalie and Tootie move into a new apartment and quickly learn that living on their own is not all it's cracked up to be.
Mrs. Garrett becomes reacquainted with Dr. Bruce Gaines (Robert Mandan), a man she met when she was serving in the Peace Corps.
In spite of a scare at Depressed Person's Cliff, Mrs. Garrett and Bruce are married, and they rejoin the Peace Corps, leaving for Africa.
A cultural exchange program sends Beverly Ann and the girls (with Andy) to Australia where they find love and intrigue: Blair and Jo dodge a couple of jewel thieves, Natalie gets lost in the outback, Tootie makes friends with a handsome stranger (Mario Van Peebles), and Beverly Ann and Andy visit a sheep ranch.
Jo meets Rick Bonner (Scott Bryce in his first of four appearances) at a community center while trying to find Andy a male role model.
Meanwhile, after consulting with the girls and Mrs. Garrett, plans are made by Beverly Ann to close unprofitable Over Our Heads and convert the retail space into bedrooms for Pippa and Andy.
Blair gets into a serious car accident when she falls asleep at the wheel, and she is devastated when it results in a large cut across her forehead.
Juliette Lewis, Mayim Bialik, Seth Green, Meredith Scott Lynn and Kathleen Freeman appear in this two-part finale.