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, Jack and the kids are going to her parents' beach house for Thanksgiving in a rented moving truck, since they neglected to make a reservation for a rental car. When they get there they find Carly's mother Kate along with her father Ben--both of whom divorced and married other people years ago. They tell them that they still love their current spouses, but the two of them got back together at Carly's wedding. They all try to have a ""traditional"" Thanksgiving dinner, but Carly is so mad at her folks that she takes Jack and storms off in the truck--temporarily forgetting that they brought the children with them.

After a recap of the Thanksgiving episode, the scene is three months later. Carly's father Ben and his second wife Beverly are visiting, about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They plan to renew their vows and be remarried by the same judge. Carly has lunch with her mom Kate, who tells her that Beverly invited her to the party. Ben confesses to Jack that he still has amorous thoughts about his first wife. Carly and Jack are afraid lest their parents meet again and rekindle their adulterous relationship of a few months before. Nicole, Will and Sarah buy a silver ring as an anniversary present, then drop it down the elevator shaft.

Nicole's boyfriend Sean asks her to go on a canoeing vacation with him and his family. Nicole knows it will be a hard sell to make to her father and she pleads with Carly to convince Jack to say yes. At school Nicole tells her friend Cindy about Sean's invitation. Cindy warns her that ""canoeing"" is just a code word for sex. Back at home Carly has talked Jack into giving his permission for the trip, but now Nicole is apprehensive about going. While Carly and Jack wonder why she is not happier about the trip, Nicole seeks counsel from an unlikely source--Dante.