Jealousy between Richard and Annie reaches a new height when Richard wants to attend an operatic recital to which Caroline invited Annie months ago. The two squabble so childishly that an infuriated Caroline tells them off loudly - and the insulted diva walks off the stage and refuses to return. When Caroline sneaks into the star's dressing room to apologize and beg her to finish the recital, she winds up rubbing her feet and getting drunk with her on champagne, and returns home to find that Richard and Annie's mutual anxiety about her whereabouts has produced a sort of truce. Meanwhile, Del finds himself taking a reluctant ethical stance when he is invited to an executive charter jet weekend on condition that he persuades cartoonist Reg to introduce a white character into his black-only post-apocalyptic fantasy world; and a furtive pair of nerdish animators fall madly in love with Caroline but are unable to speak in her presence.

Caroline becomes upset over what she sees as Richard's refusal to share his private life with her -- which comes to a head when Reg Preston's girlfriend kicks him out and he moves in temporarily with Richard. Meanwhile, Del and Annie forge a temporary truce and attempt to find dates for each other at the gym. Del strikes out, but Annie finds an obliging man mountain she'd ""like to hire a team of sherpas and climb.""

Del and Caroline participate in the company's mentoring program, but Caroline's adolescent charge Stan develops an embarrassing crush on her, while Del's turns into a teenage fixer who takes over Del's professional and personal lives with impressive competence. Meanwhile, Reg tries to convince Richard to sell his art, but the results are disastrous: a coffee house show is a fiasco, and when Richard desperately tries to emulate a subway hawker and sell his works to consumers, he is busted by an undercover cop who confiscates his art.