The excellent family series begins when Bill Davis, a fantastic construction engineer, unexpectedly adopts Buffy, who along with Jody and Cissy, have lost their parents in an accident. Buffy comes first and at first, Bill doesn't like her and wants to send her back to Terre Haute. Buffy gets the feeling that Bill doesn't like her and runs off to hide in the basement. Bill tells her that he likes her and wants her to stay. In the end, when Bill gets ready to leave for a trip, Jody and Cissy come to be with Buffy.
Cissy joins the family and Mr. French thinks that he is not wanted anymore. Mr. French changes his mind after Buffy puts her doll in his suitcase and decides to stay after all.
Buffy and Jody decide to give Bill a great gift- a horse!
Cissy wants to go to a public school, but she overhears Bill considering to send her to a boarding school and thinks that Bill doesn't want her home. Cissy goes to Bryerfield and Bill promises her an evening on the town when she comes home for the weekend. Bill unknowingly breaks his promise and Buffy and Jody hitch to Connecticut to see her. Bill then notices his error and brings Cissy home.
Mr. French is chosen for an ad for marmalade and is a huge promotion success, until he tastes the marmalade that he is hawking.
Buffy doesn't like the new changes in her and Cissy's bedroom and refuses to ever step foot in it.
Buffy's doll, Mrs. Beasley, gets knocked out of the apartment window by accident and Buffy goes up at arms about the whole thing. She fnds out that a little girl owns a doll that looks just like her lost Mrs. Beasley, and realizes that it is not her doll. Suddenly, the real Mrs. Beasley doll is found in a trash bin.
Mr. French gets Lebanese cooking lessons from a Middle Eastern restaurant owner named Nural Shpeni, and her family forces Mr. French to marry her, whether he wants to or not.
Buffy and Jody have been spending a lot a time with each other at school, and it is a major concern for the vice principal and a child psychologist who states that Buffy and Jody need to make friends and join in with other children.
When an old flame steps back into Bill's life, the children think that he will get married and send them back to Indiana.
Bill gets a chance to work with a friend in Mexico on a job, but his trip is cut short when Mr. French comes down with the flu and difficultt in keeping touch with the family.
When Jody sees a friend getting spanked by his father, his father tells him that he punishes him out of love. So Jody takes it upon himself to earn a spanking from Uncle Bill to see if he loves him enough to enforce physical punishment.
Cissy learns a lesson in snooping when she is to do a paper on Mr. French and finds a shocking secret about him.
Cissy worships a teacher named Julian Hill and spouts his theories all through the household. Bill invites the teacher to dinner and Cissy sees that he is not the man that she worships so dearly when he goes off on Buffy and Jody for an innocent spill.
Jody's allusion about being a constuction worker leads him to "gaining" a job with a constuction worker who Bill is trying to get a job with.
Cissy is disheartened because she will be left out of a mother-daughter event at school, and she doesn't tell Bill what is wrong with her.
Bill and the whole family are seeing the Gaynors off on their cruise. Buffy and Jody think that Bill is having dinner with them, but when they find out the thuth, they are left on the dock by themselves. Mrs. Gaynor sees them and calls Bill, but Buffy and Jody run off in the city to find the owner of some money they found on the dock.
Bill plans to do some serious bonding with Jody by taking him on a business trip, but Murphy's Law plagues the trip. But Jody states that just being with Bill is exciting enough.
Buffy and Jody are placed in a fast-learning portion of their grade, but Bill is spending his time with a woman who is quite uncertain about what she wants. The twins get a friendly window-washer to help them with their work, but a call from the school to Bill makes him see that the children are more important than a hot date.
A lesson to be learned in this episode: Helping people is good, but it only goes but so far. The family learns this the hard way. Mr. French helps out a maid who is very bad with housekeeping by covering up her mistakes, and this charade goes on until she is hired by a guest who is throwing a party. Eventually, she gets fired and she gets on Mr. French. Bill does the same thing when he takes over the twins' school project, and he gets credit. Cissy tells them all about how important it is to get involved in the family because they had none when they were in Terre Haute.
Aunt Fran's back and she wants the kids to come back with her. She believes that Bill will not be a suitable person for the kids. Of course, Fran thinks that this fact is confirmed when Buffy thinks that Bill doesn't want them there. When teh family gets ready to leave, Buffy sees the light and changes her mind.
Buffy gets chosen for a lead in a ballet, which is totally annoying for a mother whose little girl, Melissa, was passed over for a complete stranger. She has reason to suspect foul play when the casting director is Bill's old girlfriend Margo, but she knew nothing about Bill's children until after she had cast the roles. Then Margo tells Buffy that she will be a big success and travel all over the world. Buffy gets the idea that it means right away, so she botches up her role in the production so that she will not be separated from her new family.
Buffy and Jody meets a new girl named Marilyn, who is the daughter of a Chinese diplomat and speaks no English. Mr. French tries to work out his Cantonese and unknowingly insults her.
Buffy and Jody play matchmaker for Mr. French, but he thinks that they do not want him around because he punished them so severely.
Bill sends the kids away for a week-long trip at camp because they are driving him up the wall. He then starts to miss them when he goes back to his bachelor life.
Mr. French gets a visit from his nephew David. French is shocked when David announces that he wants to become a dentist, but the final straw comes when he goes out with Cissy.
The twins win a baby lamb in a cereal contest, which is not a good thing if your neighbors are trying to sleep.
Bill takes the twins to the rodeo where he meets his old friend Gabe, whom he invites to stay with them. The twins are mesmerized at the thought of meeting a real live cowboy, and Gabe takes them under his wing. Of course, Bill thinks that they like Gabe more than they like him. But the twins tell him that Bill will always come first in their lives.
Buffy and Jody want to make an award for Bill for being the best uncle, but they fall allergic to the clay they are making the award with. Bill thinks that the allergies are caused by irregular parenting, but the doctor states that they are allergic to modeling clay.
Cissy has trouble finding a date for the Sadie Hawkins dance, and asks a boy who throws her a curve because of a broken leg. Thinking that he is lying, she feels miserable. Bill suggests that an actor friend of his who is visiting escort her to the dance, but Cissy turns him down. Then, Cissy sees that Virgil really does has a broken leg, and she is happy that he didn't lie to her.
Buffy and Jody wants to know where babies come from, and a whole bunch of stories confuses not only them, but parents as well. Cissy then tells them the right procedure of how babies are made.
Bill and Buffy both fall in love with people they cannot have.
Mr. French's romance with an old flame puts his job in jeopardy when he thinks about working with his old love in another house.
Jody's new imaginary friend is really getting him in trouble and it tales a trip to a psychologist to figure out what is going on.
A girl picks on Jody, who doesn't dare hit her back.
Cissy becomes a candy-stripper, but feels emotionally insecure when she unknowingly breaks one of the supervisor's rules when she gives a patient some water. She is doomed to quit but Bill tells her to face up to her mistake and keep her job. It might be all and well for Cissy, but it doesn't work for Buffy when she wants to be a Brownie, but finds out she is not the right age.
Buffy makes friends with a bunch of kids, unbeknownst to her that they hate fancy kids. Mr. French catcher her and forbids her to play with them again. Uncle Bill however supports Buffy's choice and lets her play with her new friends.
Uncle Bill enforces an iron-clad confiscation order of toys constantly being left on the floor by the kids and they can never get them back. It hits a little too close when Buffy's beloved Mrs. Beasley is in danger of being taken away from her.
Jody tries his hardest to be on a local stickball team, only to be beaten out by Buffy, who happens to be a great player as well.
Cissy thinks that Buffy is being shafted by Bill because he favors Jody. Bill then decides to spend all of his time with Buffy, but then, this starts to be a problem for Cissy and Jody.
Freddie, Bill's old friend from Terre Haute, wishes that she had children after spending time with Buffy and Jody.
Buffy and Jody make friends with a disabled boy named Stanley, much to the dismay of his overprotective mother.
Cissy and Buffy are starstruck when they meet a Broadway star living in the building.
Bill is starstruck now, with a famous actress that wants to give up the business and settle down with him.
Buffy and Jody find a dog, but the landlord lays down the law against dogs. The landlord recants after the dog wins a dog contest.
Bill and Mr. French visit the kids' old home in Terre Haute where they are faced with a painful decision: Stay with their aunt who makes up stuff about how they are a burden to Bill or go back to New York.
A new romance that Mr. French has puts him in the position to make him think that his current life as a butler is not good enough for his date.
Buffy and Jody go Chinese when they are "adopted" by a elderly Chinese man.
Uncle Bill gets the kids involved with tropical fish after the advice of a fellow construction worker.
A Blizzard can be anyone's worst enemy. This lesson is true when everything goes awry for the David family in Long Island: French is stranded in the blizzard, kids Building snowmen inside, ruined potential dates, Oy Vey!
Bill wants to move to a house in the suburbs, but the kids persuade him to stay where he is.
Poor Buffy and Jody have to have their tonsils out.
Mr. French thinks he is left out of Cissy's drawings for school.
Bill and the family meet their potential counterparts when he meets a woman named Margaret and her kids. The kids think that it's real cool to have kids that are like them at first, but they find out that they are too much alike and do not get along with them.
Cissy is sad because she is not getting any attention from boys, except one named Wendell who she thinks is dull by comparison. So she have a complete and total makeover and she is an instant sex symbol! The boys are so enamored by her, except for Wendell who liked her as she was before. Cissy realizes that Wendell liked her the whole time for just being herself.
Camping is not such a hot idea for Mr. French, Buffy and Cissy, which spoils the boys' fun.
Mr. French has a nice vacation planned for himself, but the kids come along and makes his vacation more enjoyable, whether he likes it or not.
Buffy is disheartened because Mrs. Beasley needs arm surgery
Uncle Bill leaves for a trip (and having trouble finding his dentist as well) and Mr. French goes out for the evening, leaving Cissy to watch the twins. Then Cissy leaves to go to a concert (big mistake) and leaves her friend Sharon in charge. Then Sharon comes down with the measles and her mama comes to watch the kids. Then her mama levaes to take care o Sharon and puts her husband and his poker pals on babysitter duty. My lord, what a turn of events, but thankfully Bill and French come home to see all the trouble that Cissy started in the first place.
A girlfriend urges Bill to stay home more.
Buffy meets a girl named lana who lives along wheile her mother goes out all the time. Buffy considers being just like Lana, until she comes over and confesses that Buffy has a god life.
Jody must clip French's whiskers to get into a club.
Cissy is asked by a boy in Vienna to be his bride. Cissy likes the idea at first, but reality comes in and snaps some sense into her.
A boxer advises Bill to send Jody to a boys camp.
Jody is attracted to a new substitute teacher, but is sad when she leaves. Uncle Bill meets Jody's secret crush and finds out that she looks somewhat like the children's mother.
The twins bring home a large dog that dislikes Bill.
Buffy throws an early Christmas party for a sick little girl who might not live to see it.
A nightclub singer coaches tone-deaf Buffy.
A little girl named Albertine charms everyone by bragging about her father, which she doesn't really have.
Uncle Bill might have found the right woman to marry in Rome, but calls it off when she doesn't like children
French contemplates marriage to raise his professional esteem.
Bill is laid up with a broken leg from a ski accident. The kids and his girlfriend both give him some horrendous care.
Bill takes Buffy on a trip with him to Puerto Rico to spend some time together. He then meets a flame of his, but he vows to spend all of his time with Buffy.
Cissy brings home a friend named Dana who brags to everyone that her family life is absolutely fabulous, until Bill finds out that her parents are divorced and are looking for her.
The siblings take action to solve a financial crisis.
A year in England doesn't include Bill.
The twins learn how to eavesdrop with a tape recorder.
A fantastic family trip in Spain goes absolutely wrong when Mr. French and the twins get lost.
While Mr. French desperately searches for Buffy and Jody, the twins are going into unknown parts of Spain where they are picked up by a nun and a bunch of schoolchildren.
The Civil Guards are putting an APB out on the twins. Buffy and Jody are spotted by Carlos and Maria and are afraid to ell the guards. So They take care of them and take them to a church, where thankfully, Bill and his friends find them.
Buffy has a chance to skip a grade, but she is failing. Bill thinks that she is failing to stay with Jody, but Buffy is actually in love with a boy in her grade.
Jody is jealous of attention paid to his Bolivian pen pal.
A young woman pursues Mr. French.
Cissy falls for a singer who writes a song about her, but as he goes off on tour, they lose touch. Cissy goes to one of his concerts to see him again, only her heart is broken when she sees him with another girl.
Poison-pen letters implicate Mr. French in a scandal.
Cissy wants to be a hippie, much to Bill's chagrin.
Mr. French gets a role as King Henry VIII in a film production, only to have him look really stupid.
After Bill returns from a vacation, the kids decide to let him just kick back and relax, but constant interruptions make that totally impossible.
An ex-convict ask Bill for help finding a job
Cissy's friend falls for Uncle Bill.
Cissy's independence is put to the test when she decides to stay in her own apartment with a friend. Her family wil not leave her alone, but when they stop coming, she feels lonesome for them.
While Jody is playing with his friends at school, a window gets broken and Jody is blamed for it. When Jody is suspended, Bill considers taking him to a private school. He reconsiders when one of Jody's friends confesses to breaking the window.
Cissy and Gregg decide to get engaged.
Buffy gets a broken leg and the family tries to cheer her up, but to no avail.
The twins plan a surprise birthday party for Mr. French.
Buffy and Jody discover a runaway orphan and decides to keep him without Mr. French knowing about it.
Bill's valet from Hong Kong usurps French's place.
Cissy stays with a friend while the rest of the family goes to Boston. Subsequently, no one has a good time.
A rich, titled English widow proposes to French.
Buffy's hamster runs away in the park.
Graduate Cissy plans to stay out all night.
The siblings' long-absent grandfather pays a visit.
Mr. French and the twins are snowbound in Vermont.
A bonsai tree given to Jody begins to die.
Bill asks a doctor to help Buffy's pal who is disabled.
The twins get a small inheritance.
A tidal wave is predicted for New York and the kids get scared.
Buffy and Jody meets a kid named George whose parents let him do whatever he pleases. The twins wanna be treated that way, too, but Uncle Bill teaches them a lesson in early independence they will never forget.
Jody is a victim of peer pressure when he is forced to choose between a stickball team and taking up for Buffy, who the team ridicules.
Jody meets his favorite movie western hero, Chaps Callahan, and makes friends with him. Jody decides to introduce Chap to his friends, and finds out that he is not the same as he was in his movies. Jody is disheartened because Chap is not who he used to be, and Chap reassures him that he is the same person, just older.
Mr. French tries to help out a friend by letting his daughter see that her decision to be an actress is a big mistake, but the plan fails when Bill gets her a speaking part on Broadway and goes out with her. His friend then comes to twon and tells French that he was wrong about his daughter's acting career the whole time.
Bill takes the entire family with him to Tahiti, where the kids this that it is the most wonderful place in the world. Buffy and Jody instantly make friends with native children and goes to school with them, and Cissy falls for a handsome tour guide. Mr. French thinks that the Tahitian lifestyle is too perfect and that it would hurt the children's string character. Bill decides to stay in Tahiti.
Bill makes the decision to stay in Tahiti because the kids are happy with their new lives. Cissy is happy with her new boyfriend, but she is hurt when she finds out that he is married! Cissy wants to go back home, and Bill decides that this is the best decision.
Tired of the unfriendliness from all of the tenants in the building, Buffy and Jody decide to throw a party for all of the neighbors. Then the neighbors get stuck in an elevator and they work together to fix the problem.
Uncle Bill leaves Cissy in charge of babysitting the twins, but neglects her duties when Gregg takes her on a plane trip to Dartmouth. Cissy calls for a sitter for the twins and leaves but when the sitter cannot make it, the twins have to stay ll by their lonesome. Especially on the night of a blizzard, which would be totally scary if the phone lines are down and nobody can reach them. Cissy then comes home around dawn. Uncle Bill returns home and Buffy fesses up.
Bill's friend, Eng Ho, is planning an arranged marriage for his daughter, Ming Lee, and wants Bill to give her a place to stay until the wedding. Cissy then makes friends with her and takes her out with her friends. Ming Lee then falls for her escort, which is a bad idea when she is about to be married. Ming Lee decides not to marry, and her father threatend to take her back to Hong Kong. Bill convinces Eng to let Ming Lee stay in America.
When Mr. French gets too strict with the kids, Bill decides that he needs to loosen up. Bill hires Emily Turner to help Mr. French out, and she is won over by the kids because of her openness and free will. Mr. French hates Emily because of her attitude and decides that the apartment isn't big enough for two domestics. Mr. French then realizes that Emily is a great asset and they decide to work together.
French knows Maudie, a nobelwoman, as a former barmaid.
The kids celebrate five years of living in the Davis apartment bu throwing a surprise party for Bill, who doesn't make it because of a trip to Washington D.C. Emily then reminds him of the day and he goes to the party after all.
Cissy and Gregg? Getting married? Not if Bill can help it. He takes the kids to California to get Cissy to change her mind. Bill then takes her to a studio party where Cissy meets Steve Hunter, a handsome western star. She falls for him and, after hearing stories about Steve, Bill tries to stop this new romance by bringing Gregg out to win her back. Gregg tells Cissy that he wishes her lots of luck with Steve. Steve then proposes to Cissy, and she refuses.
Jody falls for a girl named Geraldine only because he wants her stamp. Bill falls for a woman to get a job with her foundation. Jody then talks about stamp collecting and Geraldine becomes friends with him and gives him the stamp that he was after. Jody then gives the stamp back to her because he's more interested in her. The woman doesn't give Bill a job, but they become friends.
Cissy takes care of her pregnant friend while her soldier husband is out on a job.
Bill refuses to fight Jody's classmate's father.
Bill goes out on a date with a funny comedianne.
Events conspire to make French lose his cool.
Jody worries that Bill can't attend a father/son night.
Bill's new girlfriend gives him a genuine primitive Colombian artifact, in which Buffy and Jody take to school and to have it broken! They try to put the pieces back together again and uses clay to make an exact copy of the statue. Their handiwork is displayed at the gallery and people are trying to buy it. The kids confess their doings to Bill's girlfriend.
Jody makes friends with a boy in teh park whose uncle is Ken Granger, a football superstar. Jody starts worshipping the ground that Granger walks on until he finds out that Granger is suspended from the team for betting on his own games. Jody is disappointed, but Uncle Bill tells him that people do not act the way we want them to act.
The siblings try to pair Bill with their teacher.
Emily playes matchmaker to Mr. French and Miss Faversham, and a matchbreaker to her son Jim and Cissy. Bill thinks that Emily believes that Jim is not good enough for Cissy.
The Davis family meets Elena and a little boy named Johnnie, who is running away from military agents who want to take him back to his father in a military-torn country.
Cissy meets up with her old friend Russ Brooks, who is joining the Peace Corps in Chile. Cissy wants to join Russ, but Bill tries to discourage her decision. Russ and Cissy decide to run off to Chile and get married, but Cissy backs out when she finds out the risks involved.
Buffy wants to join a clique, but is dropped because she is younger by one year. Bill makes a deal with Shirley, the leader, that if he builds them a clubhouse, Buffy can join the club. After the clubhouse is built, Buffy is now a member, but Cissy wants her to run for secretary. The current secretary, Carol, wants to know why Buffy is in the club and Shirley tells her the truth and Buffy is out of the club.
Emily wants to go to Jim's graduation ball, but can't because of four reasons: no date, no dance experience, nothing to wear, and fear of embarassing her son. Buffy and Jody help her out, and tries to get Mr. French to take her to the ball. Mr. French decides to take her, but comes down with the flu. Bill cancels a trip to take Emily to the ball.
Buffy meets a real, live Mrs. Beasley, an old lady who owns a toy store, when a friend forces her to give up her doll, Mrs. Beasley.
Buffy meets a chubby girl named Angela who has a crush on Jody. Buffy tries her best to turn Angela into a lovely young lady and puts together a party so Angela can make friends. Buffy gets Jody to dance with Angela, but he bribes another boy to dance with her. Angela is disheartened when she finds out that this whole party was staged. Buffy and Jody then apologize for the way they treated her and gets her to make friends the right way.
Buffy, Jody and their friend Ricky find a vacant lot where they can play, until the city decides to put a parking lot on that space.
