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Private Notes
The series opens with the Drummonds (from Diff'rent Strokes) visiting Eastland to see Mrs. Garrett (their ex-housekeeper). They arrive right in the middle of the Harvest Queen competition and Blair is sure she's going to win. So when Cindy considers running, Blair makes some snide comments about Cindy's femininity.
It's Parents' Night at Eastland and Blair's sophisticated but flirtatious mother arrives. When her mother then gets involved with a married man, Blair confronts her mother and expresses her outrage.
Mrs. Garrett is surprised by a visit from her ex-husband, Roger, who wants to remarry her. However, his gambling ways rub off on the girls who begin playing poker for money.
Tootie comes across a paper listing the girls' I.Q. scores. Nancy scored highest and Sue Ann lowest, which puts extra pressure on them just before midterm exams.
Tootie's father visits but doesn't like Tootie's activities, blaming Mrs. Garrett as a bad influence. Mr. Ramsey moves to have Tootie pulled out of Eastland but then has a change of heart.
Blair is so caught up with her latest boyfriend that she forgets to write a poem for English class. So at the last minute she plagiarizes a poem by Emily Dickinson and turns it in as her own. Things get worse when she's the only one who gets an A and Mr. Bradley enters her poem in a contest.
Sue Ann takes Blair's comments about her weight too seriously, and to prepare for a blind date that will involve swimming, Sue Ann goes on a starvation diet and collapses. Mrs. Garrett also diets to fit into a new dress.
Mrs. Garrett teaches a sex-education class, but her approach clashes with Mr. Bradley's more conservative ideas. Blair takes the ideas from class and experiments with her latest boyfriend, Steve.
A flood prompts Blair and Tootie to race out to the stables to save some animals. However, the dam breaks and Blair and Tootie are in danger of being washed away. Mr. Bradley comes to the rescue, causing Blair to develop a crush on him.
The girls have an assignment to show their family trees. But Natalie is reluctant to show hers because she was adopted, which prompts Blair to help Natalie find the name of her birth mother.
Mr. Bradley's pressure to win a track trophy causes best friends Sue Ann and Cindy to become bitter rivals.
Molly is sad over her parents' divorce, so the girls help her scheme to reunite them. But her father arrives with a new girlfriend instead.
