Julius finds $200 in food stamps but Rochelle is too embarassed to let Sheila see them, so she dips into the family savings while at the store. This leads to trouble at home when Julius has all kinds of ideas on how they can spend the cash they saved by using the stamps. Elsewhere, Chris and Greg fall out over a school science project.
The daily beatings at his school have Chris wanting to change schools. But when Julius and Rochelle won't let him change Chris resorts to attempts at getting himself expelled. Julius gets a job at a fish market. He makes more money, but his family is upset because he always comes home smelling like fish.
After Julius' truck is stolen Rochelle decides to get involved with a neighborhood watch group, but instead ends up in a competition with new neighbor Louise (Whoopi Goldberg). Chris asks out a new girl in the neighborhood hoping not to get rejected again. Drew has the girls all over him when he volunteers to be a crossing guard.
Chris gets the everyone in the neighborhood to believe that he is dating Tasha. That doesn't set well with Tasha's grandmother Louise and she makes sure that Rochelle knows about it. Julius must redeem all of the trading stamps he's been saving. Drew thinks that Rochelle is paying more attention to Chris and Tonya than to him.
Chris is left alone in Mr. Omar's apartment when his family comes down with the flu and Mr. Omar, who's supposed to look after him until the family recovers, leaves him for a widowed woman. Greg then suggests he invite Tasha over for some 'alone time'. However, things spiral out of control when news spreads of Chris' newfound independence.
Chris wants to take Tasha to her Easter pageant after she breaks up with her boyfriend but Chris already has a commitment. Rochelle competes with a new member of the church to win the Easter Pageant Hat-Off competition, which she has won for four years in a row. Julius pretends he has to work so he can stay home and watch a football game.
When Chris attempts to buy Rochelle perfume as a Mother's Day gift, he discovers he cannot afford it and buys it from Risky. However, Rochelle breaks out in hives and takes Chris to the store she believes he bought it from. Meanwhile, Drew and Julius do a spot of spring cleaning and make an expensive find.
As a first-time high school student, Chris (Tyler James Williams) is really looking forward to attending a school with some diversity. Unfortunately, when he arrives at school, he discovers that the school's new principal, Ms. Morello (guest star Jacqueline Mazarella), has placed him in the only all-white homeroom.
After Julius and Rochelle raise the rent, Mr. Omar demands reparations and moves in with the family while his apartment is being repaired. While there, he begins to play blackjack with Drew and Tonya using real money. Meanwhile, Chris is assigned to do a book report and decides to watch the movie instead of reading the book as an easy way out. However, as he later learns from Greg, the movie he saw did not match the book assigned.
Although warned by Greg that it's a bad idea, Chris starts to help the football team with their homework as a means to socialize with the cool kids. As a result, Chris ends up failing his own exams. Meanwhile, Julius begins a new job collecting dead bodies for Mr. Omar's funeral home and soon finds himself appreciating life more. He begins to buy numerous gifts for his friends and relatives, but then ends up with financial troubles.
When Rochelle orders a copy of her birth certificate, she realizes that she is actually one year younger than she thought she was and decides to start living her life with a new, younger attitude. After a complete stranger helps Chris to safety during a city-wide blackout, Chris decides to repay the older man by getting him out to meet new friends. Meanwhile, Greg feels like he has no identity after realizing that everyone at school knows him only as "Chris and Greg."
It's the last week of school and while Drew decides he wants to try out for Amateur Night at the Apollo even without a talent at his disposal, Chris is informed that if he gets one more tardy he will have to repeat the 10th grade. But one day he misses the bus and arrives at school late, forcing him to deliver the bad news to his parents.