Archie, Mike and Gloria plan a surprise party for Edith to celebrate her 50th birthday. But an unwelcome visitor to the Bunker's home - while Edith is home alone - has a much different surprise in mind for the Bunker matriarch.
Slow business at the saloon depresses Archie, so well-meaning Hank Pivnik gives him some pills to help him cheer up. But Archie takes too many and the family fears for his health.
Depressed Archie confines himself to bed indefinitely, so the family tries to get Harry the bartender to become Archie's partner and invest in Archie's Place.
A power outage and reports of looting in the city prompt Mike to write a letter to the editor about how greedy governments do the same in the name of free enterprise. At the bar, Archie vents his frustrations about how Mike always argues his point and doesn't see things his way. Two men - who have been listening in - approach Archie and suggest that he come to a meeting of the Kweens Kouncil of Krusaders (a chapter of the Klu Klux Klan), where they will come up with a more severe way of "teaching" Mike a lesson.
Archie learns that Gordie and Mitch - the two men he met earlier at his bar - plan to burn a cross on the Stivic's lawn and must come up with a way to stop them. When Archie tries to persuade Mike to write a new letter to the editor (recanting his previous stance on free enterprise), he lets slip that he had spoken with known Klu Klux Klan members. Mike is outraged and tells Archie to go away, but Archie is still determined to stop the cross burning - even if it means he will be the KKK's next target.
A flashback episode of when Mike and Gloria first came together by mutual friends at the Bunker home while Archie and Edith are out. Initially their differences lead to much tension until they discover a shared love for old style dancing.
Mike recovers from the injuries he sustained in the mugging. But the Christmas Day gift exchange is still strained due to Edith's depression due to Beverly Lasalle's death, so the family rallies around her.
Saying goodbye to Mike and Gloria proves traumatic for the Bunkers. Before they leave for their new life in California, Mike and Gloria share some long-hidden feelings, confused tears, and much, much more with Archie and Edith.
