Family

Nancy walks in on Jeff and finds him with another woman and moves back home. Buddy overhears something Kate says about her children, and runs away.

Monday is a poignant day in the lives of the Lawrences. It's the day Buddy's best girlfriend, Laura, is moving 2000 miles away. While Buddy and Laura try to decide what to give each other to remember each other by, the entire Lawrence family apprehensively awaits the arrival of that same day when they will finally learn the results of the biopsy of the tumor on Kate's breast.

Realizing that she hasn't much longer to live, Hattie, Kate's mother, decides to pay the Lawrences a visit. Eventually, they all learn that the reason for her unexpected visit is to say "a right and proper goodbye." Each member of the family reacts to the prospect of her death in his or her own way, but Willie, Hattie's favorite, is affected most.

The accidental death of the Lawrence's' son, Timmy, five years before, is recalled at the christening of Nancy's first child, who has also been named "Timmy." The occasion affects Buddy especially, since she has always felt responsible for her brother's death and resents the fact that her new nephew has been given his name.

A rash of burglaries, including one at the Lawrence house, combined with increased pressure from Doug concerning Willie's plans for the future, forces Willie to decide to move to the dairy farm Hattie bequeathed him.