Ruth-Anne (Peg Phillips) gets sick of retail when everyone treats her poorly, and hits the road on Chris’ (John Corbett) Harley. She joins up with a group of bikers known as the Diablos, led by Turk (Stephen McHattie), and she gets a bit of a new look on things as she realizes everyone has problems.

Fish Story was written by Jeff Melvoin, and it was first broadcast on 14 March, 1994.

Joel (Rob Morrow) blows Maggie (Janine Turner) off when she says she wants to make him a Passover meal. They have a bit of a fight, and Joel, to get away, goes fishing with Chris, and Ed (Darren E. Burrows).

While they are out there, it seems Joel hooks a legendary giant fish, and does his best over the hours, and days to bring him in. Things go so badly, that Joel gets on a boat, and is dragged out onto the lake. And things get weird. He and his rabbi, Schulman (Jerry Adler), who crawls out of the water, find themselves swallowed by the fish, a la Pinnochio, and it’s because all of it is an analogy for what Joel is going through with Maggie.

It’s quite charming, leaning into Christian mythology, and a classic Disney cartoon.

Holling (John Cullum) is indulging his artistic side with paint-by-numbers. That is until Maurice (Barry Corbin) belittles him. Chris tries to help Holling separate process from product, but will Holling get his love for, and the relaxation and benefits he gets from, painting.

It’s a fun and quirky piece.

The Gift of the Maggie was written by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess. It was first broadcast on 28 March, 1994.

Maurice has a problem at the house. His heater has blown up, and has caused a fire. Now, he’s got to wait for the cleaning, and the restoration to be completed before he can even think about moving back in.

He’s crashing at Holling and Shelley’s (Cynthia Geary), but he’s not having a very good time, and doesn’t like having to rely on the kindness of others. Holling and Shelley seem to be delighted with Maurice’s company, but he is not keen on being looked after in this fashion. And, of course, this is going to cause a huge blow-up between the two friends.

That is until Maurice realizes he needs the town, and its inhabitants.

Chris has gone hunting, and the deer he is stalking seems to be particularly cunning, and may outwit him. This story thread is a lot of fun, and funny.

Joel is delighted to discover that there may be a patient with a problem that he’d only dreamed of and heard about. Maggie tries to help, and Ed tries to listen, but no one gets it or its importance. And because of that, he feels like he is really stuck. He may be ok sometimes in Cicely, but he really doesn’t like it – especially when he has no one to talk to and understand it.

Maggie tries to help by inviting an internist from the naval base some distance away. They click immediately, and it’s wonderful that Maggie did this for him, even if she doesn’t understand it all. But when Joel finds out Maggie is flying the doctor around to visit his girlfriend, in exchange for chatting with Joel.

Will it sort itself out? Will Joel realize why Maggie did this for him?