An Internet entrepreneur returns to live in her hometown after her new business venture suddenly collapses.

Now that Ellen has decided to stay in Clark, she has to think what she'll do with her life. Mr. Munn offers her a position as counselor at the school, but she doesn't think it's the right job for her. So she goes to a pond and tries to read the book ""Walden"", but it's way too boring for her. Later she runs into a suspended student and the two start to throw fruits at Clark's statue and get arrested. While waiting downtown, Ellen talks to the kid, and realizes she might be better in counseling than she thought. Ellen takes the job and becomes the new counselor at the school.

When Ellen finds out that a P.J. Knockers is opening in Clark, she tries to start a petition to stop Clark from being invaded by all the chain stores and lose its small town aspect. But everybody seems blinded by the wonder they think a new restaurant will be. To make things even worse, Catherine quits her job and becomes a waitress at P.J. Knockers, and it takes Dot to convince Ellen to support her sister and ease off on the protest. Meanwhile, the new home economics teacher, Pam, takes over Ellen's office and turns it into a mini bakery room.

Vanity Fair decides to do an interview with Ellen about former dot-commers who went out of business. After everyone tells her to do something about her hair, she finally decides to fix it with Pam and bond with her a little, since they haven't started with the right foot. Ellen's new old-fashioned look doesn't please her as much as she hoped so decides to get another cut. She mistakes the pet shop stylist for the magazine hairdresser and ends up with a dog-style haircut. All that ends up serving as an example for Tina, a young girl who's having personality problems at school.

Catherine feels threatened when she sees how close Ellen and Dot have gotten now that Ellen has moved back home. When Ellen's furnishings arrive from L.A., Dot is so impressed with all of her fancy gadgets and high-style décor, that Catherine is left to wonder what place she will have in her mother's heart -- and her home -- now that Ellen has become the ""number one"" daughter. So, Catherine makes up a situation that she knows will attract their attention. (from CBS)

Ellen is wary of Dot's new ""gentleman caller"" because of her mom's history of falling for the wrong kind of man. Although she tries to find fault with Joe, Ellen realizes that she actually likes the guy -- that is, until she believes she's stumbled upon some startling information about him that she feels obligated to share with her mom. Meanwhile, Ellen desperately searches all over Clark for a decent cup of coffee and ends up finding one in the most unlikely place. (from CBS)

Ellen entices Catherine by telling her how much money she could potentially make by selling her delicious candy, and the Richmonds decide to go into business together with Ellen as the ""idea"" person and Catherine as the talented taffy maker. But soon Catherine realizes that all the fun has gone out of taffy making now that it has become more of a job than a hobby. Meanwhile, Ellen's fellow high school teachers are dismayed when they realize that the town of Clark doesn't even appear on a local map

When Mr. Munn realizes that long-time school bus driver Mrs. Gibson has reached the school's mandatory retirement age, the birthday celebration turns into a goodbye party. And, to make matters worse, Ellen is called into action to drive the school bus now that the job is vacant. Meanwhile, Ellen thinks her mom is ""losing it"" when Dot keeps referring to her pet cat, which Ellen has never seen.

Ellen doesn't have any students to counsel, because the entire school seems to be in a good mood. So she snoops around until she finds one student that may need some help: Tug, the football team's kicker. Even though Mr. Munn forbids Ellen to bother Tug, she insists on doing so and approaches his dad, trying to fix a fragile father/son relationship. Meanwhile, Ellen's a little annoyed with the cheap products of the house, a result of Dot's economic way of life. Since she won't take money, Ellen tells Dot she won a $500 prize, which she uses to bet on the football team.

The Antiques Roadshow is coming to Clark and everybody brings something they think might be valuable for the Englishman to check out. After a lot of junk, Ellen discovers that the Monopoly her sister Mary gave her years ago that had never been opened is worth thousands of dollars - enough for Ellen to move out, since Ellen feels she's intruding Catherine and Dot's space.

In order to boost Catherine's self-esteem, Ellen encourages her to accompany her to a seminar by popular motivational speaker, Percy Moss. Catherine and Ellen attend the session on self-actualization, where they both learn how to ""see it, want it and take it."" But after the seminar, they leave with vastly different opinions of Moss. Ellen sees him as a scam artist, only interested in sucking as much money from his followers as possible, while Catherine believes that he might just be the person capable of turning her life around. (CBS)

Mr. Munn is going out of town for a principal's conference and leaves Ellen in charge. She decides she'll rule the school differently, with lighter rules, no detention and more field trips. Of course, her plan backfires when all the detention kids take over Catherine's pharmacy, someone cleans up the principal's room, Pam spends the entire French club budget redesigning the teacher's lounge in 17th Century France style, Rusty is almost electrocuted while taking the kids to a field trip and much more. Ellen decides then to have a 8:30pm basketball to help the kids release their anger, but the gym is locked. She goes to Mr. Munn's place to get the key and finds him sitting watching television. Turns out he just wanted a little time off and thought Ellen was doing a better work than he.

After a friend of her mother dies, Ellen discovers that every year the inhabitants of Clark gather together for the Sunshine prize, given to the citizen who most helped the town with volunteer work and good samaritan acts. When she tries to convince Mr. Munn to give it to Dot, who's among the finalists, Ellen discovers that she's also up for the prize -- and is the favorite to win.