Megan becomes more neurotic and uncomfortable when her eccentric and estranged mother Shelby, whom she hasn't seen in 16 years, suddenly shows up to visit Arthur. Megan instead confides in Charlie about her problems, which makes Will feel left out and a little jealous over Megan's friendliness with Charlie. Megan also learns that Lily has eloped with her punk boyfriend, which makes Megan feel that she's losing control even more. Meanwhile, Rose asks Marco to help set up Sage with the sous chief Louis, while Sage makes a bet with Rami the doorman to try to set up Rose with her old boyfriend Zack.

Hoping to spend more time with Luis, Sage and Rose plan a charity dinner for Cuban refugees. Megan comes clean to her mother about her feelings of abandonment. Charlie returns to school, spurning jealousy from Mandy when he seeks Megan's help. Megan learns that Lily has been arrested.

Megan seeks to aid her sister, and in so doing learns why Lily is in jail. Will offers to bail Lily out, but both Arthur and Megan refuse saying that Lily should learn a lesson by staying in jail for her long history of making the same dumb mistakes and getting involved with the wrong people. Shelby secretly meets with Will behind Megan's back to ask for his assistance, and he agrees to help... only to find out later what Shelby's real reason is. Meanwhile, Rose helps Sage pick out a lavish gift for Luis to further get his attention, but neither sister foresees his reaction, while at the same time, Rose finds a love poem and assumes that her nebish classmate Zack wrote it for her.