Joe refuses to accompany Caroline to an award ceremony because one of the sponsors uses animal products; so she calls former date Willard, whom she dumped because he was fat and balding. After Charlie takes him to a Jewish singles event by mistake, Del lies about his background to date an attractive woman who parents will only allow her to date Jewish men. Willard shows up a reformed hunk who only came to tell Caroline to go to hell - ""And I'm rich, too!"" Aghast that Del plans to tell Risa the truth only after they spend a weekend together, Caroline points out delicately that if they sleep together Risa will know only, because Del is a ""turtleneck kind of guy."" So Del books himself into hospital, telling Risa he needs his ""tonsils"" removed; but she shows up to confess that she is eloping with her former boyfriend, who isn't Jewish either. A reluctant Richard escorts Caroline and even more reluctantly dances with her. Just as they seem about to have a tender moment, Joe appears, having

When Salty begins behaving oddly, Mark recommends that Caroline consult a cat therapist. Although the woman is a complete fruitcake ""not allowed to practice on people any more,"" she accurately pinpoints the problem as Richard's fear of caring for animals. He confesses that he suffered a childhood trauma at the hands of his teacher, Mrs. Fox, when both the class gerbil and rabbit died while in his care and she condemned him as an ""animal killer."" Annie, who has been fixed up by her mother on a blind date with a peculiar forest ranger, helps Caroline track down the retired Mrs. Fox and convince her to make amends with Richard. This doesn't work out quite as planned, since Mrs. Fox also bites the dust.

When Caroline learns that an obscure upstate newspaper has dropped her syndicated strip, she drives up with a reluctant Richard to find out why. Naturally Richard's car breaks down, and the two wind up playing marriage counselor to the only local mechanic and his on-the-point-of-leaving wife. Meanwhile, Annie recognizes an obnoxious diner at Remo's as the theater critic who gave her the worst review of her career, and hatches an elaborate revenge plot that involves Del, Charlie, and a cab driver/actor with his own ax to grind.