Jack and Carly are newlyweds anxious to prove to themselves and to the world that they can make their marriage work. She's running a fledgling catering business and has been married twice before--to Dante, a blue-collar would-be musician with whom she had a son, high-school freshman Will; and also to Sheldon, a rich businessman who is the father of her younger daughter, Sarah, 11. Jack is a schoolteacher who has an about-to-turn 16 year-old-daughter, Nicole, and is divorced from her mother, TV actress Stephanie. The ""blended"" family has been living in their new Manahattan apartment two weeks, and while Jack and Carly are wildly in love, the kids are getting testy. Nicole and Sarah are both chafing about having to share a room, and Will is infatuated with his beautiful stepsister, as evidenced by him ""accidentally"" walking in on her in the bathroom. Now Sheldon enters the picture saying he thinks it would be best if Sarah came to live with him. Carly asks for two weeks to see how things

Carly is planning a 16th birthday party for Nicole, the first birthday for the new family. At school, Jack's ex-wife Stephanie, star of the action-adventure show ""Thena,"" shows up and creates a scene. She's in town for a while and invites herself to Nicole's party. Carly is concerned about her first meeting with Stephanie and is afraid she might be sniffing around her ex-husband again. Whe Stephanie and Carly are alone together for the fisrt time Steph breaks down crying about her split with her current companion Stan and her messed-up life, getting a little more intimate than Carly would like. Stephanie announces to everyone that she will finding a place in New York so she can be close to her daughter. At the birthday party Stan shows up, saying he wants to get back together with Stephanie and marry her. Jack and Carly counsel the couple and let them spend time alone in their bedroom to decide what to do. The sounds coming from the bedroom indicate the reconcilation was successful, bu

Carly meets a New York Times reporter who is doing a story about women balancing career and family, and she is interested in profiling her. But when Carly invites her over for dinner, the reporter gets an eyeful of the more chaotic side of extended family life, plus Jack and Carly get into an argument about keeping secrets from each other.

While looking at some old photos, Carly is inspired to set up a shoot for a family Christmas picture, even though it's only October. Jack's ""traditional"" Santa Claus sweater is at his old dry cleaner Tony's place, which Carly wants him to give up now that he lives so far away. When Jack goes to retrieve the sweater and give Tony the news that he won't be using him anymore, the dry cleaner petulantly refuses to hand over the sweater without a ticket. Sarah, under the influence of Sheldon's wife Marianne, thinks she needs a nose job, which causes a big argument between the adults. Then Will gets a black eye at school defending the honor of his stepsister Nicole. Topping off a day of disasters, Carly's employee Newton delivers unseasonable decorations to the apartment.

The pressures of work are keeping Carly and Jack apart more and more. He surprises her with a picnic at her office but she can't even take fifteen minutes to enjoy it. Jack decides not to go schmooze at the faculty Halloween party and Carly lets Grace handle the big toy manufacturer's party so the couple can spend the evening together. But Carly can't stay away from her big event, so Jack heads for the faculty party. He doesn't stay there long and ends up at Carly's party. While there, he pretends he's not Carly's husband and talks up her virtues to several prospective clients. After the party, these same clients see Jack and Carly making out, and thinking she's cheating on her husband, they cancel plans to give her their business.