When Ray confides to Debra that her constant need to cuddle and “”be on top of him”” when they are sleeping is causing him too many sleepless nights, Debra is more than happy to comply with his request to give him his space in bed. Now, Ray is learning the hard way that you have to be careful what you wish for!

Trying to impress Robert when they visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Ray uses his “”weight”” as a sports writer for Newsday to jump to the front of the line to meet the members of the 1969 New York Mets.

Debra brings the kids to her parent’s house and Ray stays home alone. Ray can’t sleep because he’s scared so he goes to Robert’s but Robert’s fine. So Ray goes to his parent’s house where he finds Robert scared too. The two reminisce about how Frank used to scare them as children.

Frank fakes an injury so he won’t have to go on a cruise with Marie. Ray ends up going and gets mistaken for her lover.

When Frank wins “”Man of the Year”” at his lodge Ray and Robert are asked to make a video tribute about Frank. While making the video they realize none of his lodge buddies like him.

Robert’s entire demeanor changes when he starts clubbing with his patrol partner, Judy, and her friends. When he starts using expressions such as “”This is so whack”” and “”I’m down with it”” and showing up in mustard colored suits, Ray and the rest of the family find it hard to believe the extent to which Robert will go to fit in with his new friends.

When Ray finds out that his father let him win a game of ping pong when he was twelve he challenges him to a game. When Ray loses he tells Frank that he let him win. Frank then tells Ray the truth. He didn’t let him win, he really did win.

Marie starts to favor Robert when Ray admits to having a party 20 years ago. The tables turn however when Robert tells her it was his party not Ray’s.

Ray is overjoyed by the reaction he is getting from friends and family who received a personalized “”Barone”” toaster from him as a gift – even Debra’s pretentious parents are thrilled with it. But, having heard nothing from his parents, Ray confronts Frank and Marie, the two people whose approval matters most, and is amazed beyond belief to hear what they did with the gift – and then what they resort to in order to get it back.

Ray feels jealous of Robert when he visits his new apartment and sees that it’s filled with beautiful women. Also Frank turns Robert’s old room into a lounge.

When Marie and Frank get some test results back they find out that they’re not as healthy as they thought. So Marie throws out all the unhealthy food and makes Frank go on a diet with her. This doesn’t sit well with him and the rest of the family when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner. Instead of the traditional turkey dinner she makes a tofu turkey. So Ray orders a traditional Thanksgiving dinner from a restaurant. Debra thinks that Ray might have hurt his mother’s feelings but it’s quite the opposite when he catches Marie eating his Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of the night.

When Robert and Amy break up Raymond is blamed by everyone because of some bad things he told Robert about marriage.

Ray is jealous of Andy who’s article is published by “”Sports Illustrated””. He feels better however when he learns they had rewritten the article.

Feeling pathetic because he lives with his parents, Robert finally musters up the courage to move out on his own. Encouraged by Ray, and much to his parents’ horror, Robert packs up his bags, takes his dog and moves into a garage apartment. But the move affects the family more than they anticipated. They feel the absence of their relationship “”buffer.”” As Debra describes it, “”He’s like.the lead apron at the dentist.”” Meanwhile, Robert enjoys his newfound freedom, until Raymond comes to visit and points out that the older couple with whom he is living are really carbon copies of their own parents — from whom he was trying to get away.

When Debra’s mother comes to visit the family for a week, Debra finds herself shocked to discover that she wishes her mom were more like Marie. Debra’s highly anticipated week of “”quality time”” with her mom, Lois, and the family quickly turns into a big disappointment when her mother seems more interested in the Renoir exhibit and her crossword puzzles than in Debra, Ray and the children. When her frustration with Lois’ disinterest reaches a boiling point, Debra makes the mistake of blurting out that she wishes her mother were more like Marie. Then she has the unfortunate double trouble of making amends with her mom — and dealing not only with Marie’s glee, but also with her claim that she deserves credit for teaching Debra parenting skills.

After Debra suggests that she might be more consistently romantic if she weren’t in charge of the birth control, Ray decides to make the drastic move of “”cutting the wires.”” But after a discussion with Robert, and other top “”medical experts”” he chickens out, but does muster enough bravery to go to the drugstore and buy “”the stuff.”” He even goes crazy and splurges on “”the rainbow pack”” but the plan for Halloween romance goes awry when Grandpa distributes the “”chocolate coins in brightly colored wrappers”” that he found to the remaining trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood.

After embarrassing Debra at an auction she vows to get even with Ray but doesn’t tell him when. This drives him crazy and leads him to believe that everything she does is to get even at him.

Debra decides to hire a babysitter so she hires Lisa. Lisa is highly recommended and is very popular with the kids she baby-sits. When Marie finds out that she wasn’t asked to baby-sit she feels insulted and Debra feels left out when the kids prefer Lisa to her. So Debra lets Lisa go and asks Marie to baby-sit. Marie however can’t handle the energy the kids have and trips over a toy and hurts herself. So Ray tries to get Lisa to come back but she’s already found another job at the Parkers.

After Frank has one accident too many, Debra decides that the kids can’t ride with him anymore, which makes Raymond realize that his dad is getting older. Not only did Frank back into Robert’s patrol car, but further investigation reveals that his driver’s license is expired! Uncomfortable with the fact the he’s not a safe driver anymore, Debra decides she doesn’t want the kids in his car. But the most uncomfortable part for Ray is thinking about the fact that his parents are really getting older – and unsafe driving is only the beginning of the journey.

When Ray’s house is tented for termites, he moves his entire family into his parent’s house and gives Frank and Marie a taste of their own medicine. Marie’s initial excitement that “”Raymond has come home!”” quickly fades when the world’s greatest home intruders start to feel intruded upon. Sensing her in-laws’ growing frustration with the disturbance of their daily routine, Debra decides to have a little fun at their expense and “”help them”” like they always claim to be “”helping her”” – until she and Ray realize that once again, they just can’t win the game.

While the Barones prepare for a friend’s wedding, Ray kiddingly asks Debra, “”Why did you marry me?”” When she hesitates, he flashes back to the not-so-magical night 10 years before when he popped the big question. Ray gets unexpected, unsolicited and unwelcome help with from his parents, but Debra says yes anyway. That leaves the gloomy groom wondering if she did so because she loves him or because she felt pressured. So Ray decides he’s “”gotta give her another chance to say no.””

After Raymond asks Debra why she ever married him, they take a walk back in time – to the very beginning of it all. Raymond is very, very nervous. He’s about to propose to his lovely girlfriend Debra and nothing is going right. But when he finally pops the big question, she accepts, the families celebrate and all is well. At least for five minutes. Then the “”nervous”” turns into “”pure fear”” when Ray wonders if she really wants to marry him for love – or if it’s just for the elaborate wedding she’s been planning since she was twelve.

As the entire family prepares for “”Honest Frank’s Yard of Bargains,”” Ray is surprised to see Debra unloading their cribs and baby clothing for the sale and even more surprised to hear that she just assumed they were finished having children. As usual, their private business becomes a family matter, and Marie reminds Debra that, “”You want to plant your seedlings before…winter comes and everything freezes over.”” Eventually, their disagreement leads to a sentimental journey down the lane of messy memories past. While collecting the kids’ baby clothes and old furniture for a garage saleat his parents’ house, Ray gets to thinking about having another child, but that’s not something Debra has given much thought to.

When six-foot-tall Raymond discovers that he’s shrunk a quarter of an inch, the resultant midlife crisis grows until it stretches into “”an end-of-life crisis.”” So before he gets put six feet under, he decides to make a list of his dreams and goals in life. But when Debra finds him writing his “”Things To Do Before I Die”” list, she decides to show her husband the proper way to have his crisis. Meanwhile, Marie gets mad at Frank when she discovers that he sold half of their burial plot for a profit.

Robert proves to be a crashing bore when it comes to teaching traffic school, so he decides to practice his presentation on the family-which drives them crazy. In an attempt to lighten things up, he puts in an assist-officer call to “”Traffic Cop Timmy,”” a puppet dressed as a policeman.

Debra brings an “”unapproved snack”” to Ally’s T-ball game and Ray doesn’t stand up for her – prominently displaying his fear of being disliked. Debra had no idea that pretzels were not on the “”approved snack list”” in the orientation packet for Ally’s team. And, as a mom juggling three children under the age of 7, she doesn’t have time to cater – and really doesn’t care. But when Raymond won’t take her side against the uptight team parents, she loses her cool and points out that he’s just afraid of making enemies. But enemies he makes – at the very next game.

Debra discovers that her mother-in-law, Marie, likes Robert’s girlfriend, Amy, better than she likes her because Amy is a “”good girl.”” When Robert accidentally lets it slip to Marie that Amy is a virgin, Marie is thrilled to pieces. Jealous of the attention Amy is receiving from Marie, Raymond minimizes Debra’s premarital activities, leading his mother to believe that Debra was a “”good girl”” too. When the family discovers why Marie has this sudden “”purity”” fixation, Robert and Raymond are in for a big surprise.

Scary monsters in her room send Ally scurrying nightly to the safety of her parents’ bed, so sleep-deprived Ray decides it’s time to call in an expert — his mother. But if Debra finds out about his plan, it could be lights out for him.

Raymond decides to spend a shift accompanying his brother Robert, a policeman. Initially, spending a shift in the back of Robert’s patrol car bores Raymond and he wonders why he even bothered putting on the bullet-proof vest. But his boredom quickly turns to terror during a chance visit to Nemo’s restaurant that puts them in the middle of the hold-up. When Robert saves the day by throwing a hot pizza in the burglar’s face, Raymond sees for the very first time how courageous his brother really is.

When Raymond takes over the family checkbook to prove to Debra how “”easy it can be”” to balance it, he discovers he is no accountant. After he quickly runs out of money and starts bouncing checks, he tries to hide the truth from Debra and winds up entangled in a mess of lies, two fake checkbooks and a large loan from his brother.

When Raymond chooses his mother’s spaghetti and meatballs over his wife’s lemon chicken for dinner, Debra blows a gasket. With good intentions, Ray asks his mom to teach Debra how to make her world-famous dish. Although Marie and Debra have fun in the kitchen, the meatballs lead Marie to believe that it’s only her cooking that keeps Ray coming by.

When Ally has to do a school project on genealogy and interview her oldest living relative, Ray helps her track down Frank’s long-lost Aunt Sarina, who lives in Italy. But apparently the unmarried Sarina has taken “”stop by if you’re ever in America”” a little too literally and shows up at the front door. Her American family instantly adores her for her way with pizza and old world charm. Ray, as always, thinks it’s too good to be true and he’s right.

Feeling left out when he thinks that his father selectively asked his brother to join a Civil War re-enactment, Ray voluntarily enlists for the Battle of Gettysburg. As the men prepare for Battle, a funny thing happens and Ray is finally able to tell Frank that he wishes they did more together. So, although Frank’s on the side of the North and Raymond’s on the side of the South, the Barone soldiers are able to put their political differences aside and share much more than a Civil War handshake.

All Ray wants for Christmas is a little loving from his wife and he’s willing to try anything and everything to have his holiday wish come true. Ray has tried just about everything to get Debra “”in the mood”” and his dream comes true when she finally falls victim to his boyish charm on Christmas morning. The problem? At the very moment that he gives her the shivers, his entire family is working their way into the house for Eggs Florentine and gift unwrapping. But where there’s a will, there’s a way — and Raymond is determined to get what he wants from Santa this year.

When Marie crashes and ruins her Tupperware party, Debra decides that she’s had just about enough of her mother-in-law’s constant interference. She takes pen to paper and writes a letter to her mother-in-law, telling her to stop intruding into her life. Horrified by the problems that this letter might trigger, Ray does everything in his power to intercept the offending document – but he fails. Surprisingly, the family discovers that honesty really may be the best policy.

Ray makes a startling discovery when he takes Debra to his 20th high school reunion. It turns out that Debra’s “”one of them”” – the cool people who hated him and used to throw him into the girls’ bathroom! Depressed about being unmasked as a “”nerd,”” Ray tries to deal with their mixed marriage.

Ray, feeling guilty about only getting his dad a card for his 65th birthday, makes up for it by buying him a fancy and expensive aquarium just like the one he always admired in the Chinese restaurant. At first Frank adores the gift, but after one of the fish dies, he starts to hate it. Ray thinks it must be because the fish’s demise reminded his dad of his own mortality – until he finds out the real reason and learns an important lesson about father-son relationships.

Sick of reading Ally the same stories night after night, Debra decides to try her hand at writing a children’s book. Feeling great about doing something other than being a mom, she invites Raymond to write the story with her. But Debra sees the other side of her easy-going husband when he turns their little project into an all-out competition – with Ally as the judge.

After Debra reads a newspaper article about people who enjoy being at work more than being at home, she convinces Ray to set up an office in their house.

At a big surprise party for Frank and Marie’s 40th wedding anniversary, Raymond is shocked to learn that his parents were once separated for a year and might have gotten divorced if Frank hadn’t returned home to help with Ray’s broken arm. After the initial shock wears off, Ray starts to wonder if it’s his fault that his parents are still together… and miserable.