Season 1

22 episodes · 1996

Eric enlists the help of a neighbor to stop Matt from smoking, and makes a vain attempt to help Lucy deal with her flowering womanhood.

Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but: Matt and Mary both have mysterious new friends; Simon and his new charge, Happy, could be in the doghouse; and Lucy keeps mum about the object of a crush.

Mary offers to shield Lucy and her "date" from Eric; Matt gets into a scrape while out with a young woman; and Annie goes to Arizona to bring her parents home.

Annie feels abandoned on the day of her mother's funeral when her father bolts for home, Eric counsels a couple and Matt escorts Renee to the hospital after she goes into labor at the post-funeral luncheon.

The Camden kids learn hard lessons about race when Eric invites a black family to stay at the house after their church is destroyed in a racially motivated arson.

Halloween is a fright, as Annie tries to scare up a costume for Ruthie; Lucy has a close encounter with the town "monster"; and a childhood memory haunts Eric.

Eric counsels a teen drug addict; Matt's fired from another job; Lucy blows it when she tries to impress the most popular girl in school; Simon and Lucy get lost playing detective.

Eric helps out a woman who is being abused by her husband. But when the good reverend is seen escorting the woman to a motel one afternoon, it's the talk of the town. Meanwhile, Matt warns Mary about an older guy she's seeing.

Annie and Matt are robbed at gunpoint; Mary wants a tattoo; Eric is told to fire the church organist; Simon and Ruthie have the chicken pox; Lucy runs for student-body president (as does Jimmy Moon).

Eric's sister visits the family for Thanksgiving but knocks the stuffing out of everyone when they discover that she has a drinking problem.

Matt's new girlfriend seems more interested in hanging out with his family than with him; Simon thinks he can make himself invisible; Lucy wants to join the cheerleading squad.

Matt helps out an elderly neighbor, but winds up getting in hot water for it; Eric searches for a way to aid a proud but homeless family; Lucy's 13th birthday approaches and she wants a party.

The kids receive some lessons about stealing: Matt and Mary carry on a high-school tradition by lifting a glass from a local diner and Lucy borrows liberally from a term paper Mary lent her.

A tug-of-war ensues between Eric and his cantankerous parents over who will adopt a young orphan found hiding in the church.

Everyone's plans for a romantic Valentine's Day are interrupted when Happy, Simon's dog, gets out of the house and is hit by a car.

Mary deals with harassment from a boy she turned down for a date; Lucy's new best friend seems to be hiding something; Simon prepares Ruthie for pre-kindergarten.

Mary takes a walk on the wild side with a classmate she meets in detention; a former associate minister from Eric's church drops in unexpectedly; Simon and Ruthie ferret out a scheme to fund their college educations.

Annie volunteers as the church's treasurer pro tem but gets caught in the middle when Eric wants to hire an ex-con against the advice of the church vestry. Meanwhile, Mary agrees to tutor Jimmy Moon in science.

Eric has to tell his parents that George may have to be given over to his birth father, who has resurfaced; Eric's alcoholic sister is released from rehab.

Annie's "boy-crazy" best friend from school, Rachel, is in town, but the boy she has her eye on is Matt; Lucy may have to say goodbye to her friend Suzanne.

Annie is livid when her father brings along his girlfriend on a weeklong visit; Mary and Matt pursue new romantic interests; Lucy wants to find out if blondes really have more fun.

Mary undergoes knee surgery, while Matt learns that Michael Towner was the hit-and-run driver; Wilson reveals the truth about Billy to Eric.