13-year old Chris's family moves to a new neighborhood in Brooklyn, at which time he is bussed into a mostly-white middle school. In making sense of the world, he must contend with the school bully and deal with the craziness of his parents and siblings.
Chris competes with another boy for the affections of Keisha, the girl his mother has hired to be Drew's new math tutor. Meanwhile, Julius is shocked to find out that he's really attracted to a new woman.
Though he's not really good at basketball, the school assumes Chris is and drafts him onto the team, but the unwanted attention causes some friction between him and Greg. Meanwhile, the family rents out a room in the house to a stranger named Mr. Tate, but soon begins have some suspicious feelings about him.
Julius buys a giant case of sausages and forces the family to eat sausage during every single meal, but Tonya’s insistence against the new meal plan causes some tension. Meanwhile, Chris is rumored to have knocked out Joey, the school bully, earning himself three days of detention.
Chris has his bike stolen after letting a neighborhood kid take a ride. Meanwhile, Julius' co-workers go on strike, and with Julius home, he begins to aggravate Rochelle by doing some of the chores.
Chris is forced to take his brother and sister trick-or-treating, which threatens his plans to go to his neighbor's Halloween bash. At school, Chris and Greg are having a hard time avoiding Halloween jokers who want to pelt them with eggs. Meanwhile, Rochelle balks at Julius’ plan to give out generic knockoff brands of candy.
Julius and Rochelle hire a babysitter so they can go out for the night, but Chris is forced to take over when the babysitter keeps disappearing to handle her own business. Meanwhile, Julius and Rochelle's night out hits a snag when their restaurant coupon is deemed invalid and then the restaurant is hit with a robbery.
Chris must spend the day with Drew and Tonya at the Laundromat when he is given the duty of doing the family laundry.
Julius stumbles upon $200 in food stamps, but Rochelle ends up using the family's own money to buy food when social embarrassment keeps her from pulling out the stamps. Meanwhile, Chris and Greg find themselves with conflicting ideas about how to team up for a school science project.
Chris hangs out at Greg's house to play Atari when he decides to no longer be the one blamed for Tonya's shenanigans at home, but he ends up hiding from blame anyway when Greg's dad comes home early. Meanwhile, in his absence, Tonya must figure out how to avoid getting the blame that Chris used to be saddled with.
Julius and Rochelle are forced to tell Chris the truth, when they must fix the broken water heater at home instead of buying him a walkman for Christmas. Meanwhile, Tonya begins to have doubts about truths Mom and Dad have told her after Drew gives her the straight story about Santa.
Chris tries to buy a leather jacket by helping Julius at work, but finds the job a lot more demanding than he realized. Meanwhile, Tonya gets burned, literally, when she takes on Drew's bet about guzzling hot sauce.
Chris enlists Rochelle's help in choosing a cool outfit for his school picture. Drew and Tonya get into a feud after Tonya breaks one of Drew's toys but refuses to make amends. Meanwhile, Rochelle looks to her neighbors when she tries to sell a line of cosmetics.
Chris looks around and sees love everywhere as Valentine's Day comes again, but instead of getting love cards, he gets meancing cards from Joey, the school bully. Chris begins to like Tangee, a girl he meets on his regular bus trip to school. Meanwhile, Julius and Rochelle try to learn how to deal with the burgeoning romantic lives of Drew and Tonya.
Chris is forced to take on all challengers as reigning "Asteroids" champion of Bed Stuyvesant, including one who may be just as good as he is. Meanwhile, Julius and Rochelle try to find a new outlet when they are forced to abstain from the simple pleasures of lottery tickets and chocolate for the sake of bill payments.
Chris tries to hide a failing grade on his report card from Julius and Rochelle by taking drastic action.
Julius and the kids begin to worry about Rochelle after her father's sudden passing leaves her somewhat unfazed. Meanwhile, Rochelle bristles at her mother's constant sniping, which leads Chris to step up and defend his mother in front of the entire family.
Chris tries to get himself thrown out of Corleone Middle School and into a local junior high when Julius and Rochelle refuse to let him make the switch and avoid daily pain and humiliation. Meanwhile, Julius’ new job at a fish market has the whole house smelling bad.
Chris gets Julius and Rochelle to pay for karate lessons, hoping that he'll finally outshine Drew in some activity. Meanwhile, Julius is forced to pay for Tonya to go to a salon after Rochelle messes up her hair with a hot comb, but while there, Tonya is soon exposed to a world of gossip.
Chris finds Julius' issue of Playboy magazine and takes it with him to school, only to have Joey swipe the magazine. Before Chris and Greg can find a way to stealthily get it back to its rightful hiding place, the school principal gets his hands on it. Meanwhile, Julius is surprised to learn that Rochelle has been withholding money.
Chris asks the local Bed Stuyvesant criminals for advice on how to sell when his class organizes a bake sale to visit Washington, but Chris ends up paying the price when the cops pick him up. Meanwhile, Julius decides to stay home when the kids get sick with chicken pox and give up his anniversary "Dreamgirls" date with Rochelle.
Julius decides he wants to spend Father's Day alone, prompting Rochelle to corral the kids and take them out for some fun in spots where Julius won't have to run into them. Meanwhile, Chris tries to find a great gift of his own for Julius.