Louis finds a penny on the school grounds. As he bends over to pick it up, a scaffolding with workmen on it tumbles to the ground around him, but it misses him. A uncanny lucky streak begins for Louis. A dreaded test is cancelled, he wins a free fashion makeover, he get a reward when someone's lost bird flies right to him. Meanwhile Ren is worried about Ruby's obsession with the British pop trio BBMak, as is Ruby's friend Nelson. After Ruby stays up all night listening to the radio trying to win a contest with the prize of attending BBMak's recording session in Sacramento, Ren and Nelson decide to stage an intervention for her. They tell her to stop with her fantasies about the group and focus her feelings on a person who is attainable. The intervention seems to have worked. As Ruby leaves the Stevens house, she passes the newly-made-over Louis. Later she tells Ren she's already found a new love in her life. To Ren's horror, she says that it's...Louis! In an effort to turn her off of L

Ren is ecstatic when she finds out that her braces will come off in the morning before her 8th grade school picture will be taken. When the dentist removes them, he says she has a slight infection and gives her some oral medication which has ""mild side effects."" Ren looks great and rushes to school to get her picture taken. The disinterested photographer doesn't tell her that her cheeks are now grossly swollen. In the halls everyone stares and laughs at Ren. Louis shows his sister a mirror; Ren is horrified. She chases down the departing photographer, Mr. Krapezi, but he says there will be no reshoot unless the principal authorizes payment. Ren is sure Principal Wexler will do it for her, but by the time she sees him, the swelling has gone down and he won't consider it.

Eileen Stevens is throwing a fancy dinner catered by French chef Pierre for the Lieutenant Governor Woods and his wife Dottie during which she hopes to persuade him to help pass her family care bill. Ren is angry with Louis, though, because the kids must eat take-out food in the back yard because Louis has been such an embarrassing slob at previous dinners. Louis steals food from the kitchen, infuriating the chef. A duck shows up in the Stevens' back yard, and Louis names him ""Seymour."" When Chef Pierre comes out in the yard looking for his ""canard"" to be served as the main course, the Stevens kids refuse to give up Seymour. The chef leaves the house in a huff.

Louis and Twitty are desperate to find the new ultra-cool ""Quasi"" sneakers, but they are sold out everywhere. Tom puts them in contact with his underground source, though, and they set up a meeting with ""Scabbie"" at South Creek Mall. Meanwhile, Ren is leading (naturally) a fund-raising meeting for the school paper. Ruby proposes a fashion show at the Mall, an idea everyone likes better than Ren's, including, surprisingly, Ren's devoted disciples Carla and Marla. Soon everyone is neglecting work on the paper and working on the fashion show. Ren gets upset and Ruby accuses her of being mad because the show wasn't her idea, which seems to be true. Ren angrily insists she'll put out the paper by herself.

Ren is having a ""young women's all-night forum""--better known as a slumber party--and she wants everyone to clear out of the house on Saturday night. All the family members agree, including Louis, who says he'll be sleeping over at Twitty's. But he's got a plan--to put hidden cameras in the house and broadcast the evening as ""The Secret World of Girls,"" charging $10 a head to his fellow male students to watch.

Ren is all set to watch her favorite newscaster and role model, Cynthia Mills, but she's bothered by Louis and Twitty, who are big fans of the station's clownish weatherman, Zippy Winds. Ren mentions that she is entering a newscasting contest for students with a prize that includes meeting Ms. Mills. This excites the boys, who see it as a chance to meet their idol Zippy. But when Ren interviews Tawny the next day at school for an audition tape, Louis is sure that her subject will be too dull to win. He uses the annoying neighbor Beans as part of his plan for a more exciting entry. Using a earpiece, the guys feed Beans information that makes him look like an incredible genius. Ren hears him spouting off all his ""knowledge"" and decides to use him in her audition tape.

Louis and Twitty are having a good time making prank phone calls, including one to Ren, claiming to be Bobby Deaver. When she finds out about their deception, she blasts them with a super-soaker! At school, Ren meets her old neighbor Nelson, who is a real hypochondriac with allergies to everything. At lunch he embarrasses her with all his symptoms. Then when she gets home, she's not happy to hear that her parents have made plans to go out to dinner with her and Nelson and his parents.

The Lawrence Jr. High baseball team is blowing a big lead and is about to lose the game. Things get so bad Coach Tugnut puts in Twitty, who hasn't pitched all year. Surprisingly, he strikes out the rest of the side and saves the day. At school the next day, Twitty is congratulated by everyone, but Louis talks about him being the star player every one depends on so much that it begins to make him nervous. Now with his confidence shaken, Twitty pitches terribly in the next game while Artie Ryan broadcasts to everyone how he blew it. After the game, Twitty blames Louis and all his talk for his pitching problems.

Donnie is coaching his terrible little league basketball team the Dingoes while Louis is hanging around the gym after his usual detention. When Donnie takes a break, Louis has the kids run a drill, and they actually look pretty good doing it. The kids ask if Louis can be their assistant coach and Donnie agrees to it. In their next game, the winless Dingoes have improved so much that they actually have a chance to win with a few seconds left. Donnie's final play is too complicated for the team to understand, but Louis has one up his sleeve. When play stars, one of the boys gets down on all fours and starts barking like a dog. While the other team is distracted, Tiffany scores the winning basket for the Dingoes! They carry Louis off the floor in triumph.

Ren and Bobby are at the Stevens house doing homework. They are about to kiss when her dad comes in and interrupts them. Steve Stevens seems determined not to leave the couple alone. He has some ""good"" news--he's giving a guest lecture on birds in Ms. Lovelson's Life Science class. The next day at school Ruby tells Ren that Mandy ""Always Gets Her Man"" Sanchez has a crush on Bobby. After giving a thoroughly embarrassing presentation, Mr. Stevens invite the students along for a birdwatching trip to Devil Mountain. Bobby volunteers to go, followed quickly by Mandy and Ren, plus Ruby and Nelson.

State Sen. Eileen Stevens is running for secretary of state, and she hires a political consultant to help with the campaign. He sits the family down to have a serious talk about image when Louis comes bursting in the room, with vegetables growing in his hair for a science project! The consultant is appalled by Louis. Eileen plans to announce her candidacy on a news broadcast, and the consultant dresses Louis in a suit with short pants for the event. Louis flies into a rage over wearing the outfit, and it's all caught on tape by reporter Cynthia Mills. Soon the tape of Louis having a fit is being shown on every channel and Cynthia had dubbed him ""the wild child.""

Louis arrives late in class to find a huge new transfer student named Lenny sitting in his seat. Louis is scared of the big guy but loans him a pencil when he needs one. The class watches the ""Wombat Report"" featuring Ren's expose on dodge ball. She has film of Coach Tugnut and his sadistic practices plus a medical report from Nelson about the injury risks.

It was a dark and stormy night... just before Halloween as Ren sits and watches a horror movie alone. She gets a terrifying ""I know you're home alone"" call from someone, but it turns out to be Louis, dressed in his penguin jockey outfit.

Ren and Monique are organizing a Sadie Hawkins Day dance, but due to all the hard work and a recent breakup with Bobby Deaver, Ren may be dateless for the dance. Meanwhile Twitty is swamped with invitations from girls while Louis and Tom, not surprisingly, can't get themselves arrested. Twitty assures Louis that Tawny will ask him to the dance, and she appears to be on the verge of doing so, but when Louis brags about the number of girls after him, Tawny declines to ask Louis out. Ren asks several boys to the dance, but the fact that she's babysitting a live pig cramps her style and she gets nowhere. Louis and Tom both try the ""bad boy"" approach to attract dates, but it only works for Tom. Finally, at the last second, Louis begs Monique to ask him out, and she agrees.

Ren and Louis are fighting tooth-and-nail as usual when Donnie shows them a tape of a TV show, ""Sibling Sessions,"" and suggests they appear on it to help them solve their differences. Ren agrees and so does Louis once he learns that he'll get free tickets to Magic Mountain. At school, Ren gets a little worried when she sees that Bobby's new lab partner is the dreaded Mandy ""Always Gets Her Man"" Sanchez. She asks Bobby if there is anything for her to worry about and he tells her no.

Ren gets on the cheerleading squad (it'll look good on her record), but head cheerleader Monique tells he that she needs to work on being more perky and peppy. Meanwhile Louis takes one look at Ms. Morgan, the cheerleaders' new faculty advisor, and falls head over heels in love with the beautiful woman. When Ren messes up a routine and a pyramid of girls falls on the team mascot, a new mascot is needed to replace the injured one. Louis jumps at the chance, solely so he can be near Ms. Morgan. Tawny is shocked at what Louis is doing, but he's serious enough to go to a mascot boot camp, where he impresses the crusty instructor so much that he give Louis a jet pack that he himself used as a mascot long ago.

Dad's bought a new car, but he disappoints the family by buying a boring minivan. But who should come rolling up in a monster 4-wheel drive truck but Chuck Stevens, Steve's brother and the favorite uncle of Louis. Dad isn't too thrilled about his brother's visit because he's an immature ne'er-do-well with lots of half-baked get-rich-quick schemes that never work out, and also a bad influence on Louis. When his parents stop Louis from pulling a prank on Larry Beale at school, Uncle Chuck encourages him to do it anyway. While Louis is washing the van, Chuck tells him to forget about it and come to the mall with him. The guys leave the hose running and fill the van with water. Louis tries to takes all the blame on himself.

Louis and Twitty are playing a game of stinky sockball. Tom is there, too, but he doesn't care to join in. He is excited, though, when Mr. Stevens brings home a carve-your-own-leprechaun kit. Louis suggest his dad start without him and use Tom to help instead. Soon, though, Louis is surprised and dismayed when Tom gets on a first-name basis with his dad and begins spending more and more time with him. Louis confesses to Tawny that he fears Tom is taking the role of his dad's son away from him. Tawny suggests he find a shared interest with his dad.

Ren is efficiently doing her job as student administrative assistant to Principal Wexler, while Louis is getting into trouble, as usual. When he whacks Mr. Wexler in the face with his locker door, the principal calls in Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. Steve and Eileen suggest to Wexler that instead of more punishment for Louis that he be given some responsibility like Ren has. Wexler agrees to do it, and gives Louis the job of hall monitor. When Twitty and Tawny hears of this, they think it's great, that their friend Louis will let them be late for class, etc.

Donnie is going to be inducted into the Lawrence Jr. High Wombat Hall of Fame and Louis is getting a little perturbed at his brother because of all the things he gets away with simply because he's an athletic star. His dad ignores his complaints, so Louis plans his own stunt to get even. At the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a choked-up Coach Tugnut introduces Donnie and tells him that the Texas State University football coach Specs Richardson is on his way to Sacramento right now with plans to offer Donnie a full athletic scholarship. Donnie is set to demonstrate his title-winning gymnastics routine on the pommel horse. Louis has tampered with the horse, though, and when Donnie gets on, it bucks like a mechanical bull. Donnie is thrown high in the air and lands hard on the ground, as Louis and Twitty look on in shock.

Even though she's burning up with fever, Ren still wants to go to school so she can qualify for a perfect attendance award, but her mom Eileen won't let her. Louis tries to fake illness to avoid Coach Tugnut's fitness test, but his dad Steve is not fooled. Ren is in bed with Mr. Pookie watching a musical. A big puff of steam comes from the humidifier and...

Ruby and Monique are reluctant to sign up for the mother-daughter bowling night that Ren is organizing; they're afraid their moms will embarrass them. However it turns out those girls have fun with their mothers while it's Ren who is embarrassed by her mother Eileen's awful bowling. Ren is glad that the one-time bowling night is over, but Mom brings home a surprise: she had so much fun that she enrolled herself and Ren in a mother-daughter league. Meanwhile, Louis has used the $500 he won in a radio station's stinky feet contest to hire a butler, Chives. His servant waits on him hand and foot, at home and at school, even serving detention for Louis. Beans is hanging out at the Stevens house, being his usual annoying self and Louis orders Chives to toss him out.