Eight Is Enough - Season 4 (1979)

When Abby goes back to school to finish her PhD, Tom turns to the ranks for help in looking after Nicholas; Nancy tries to prove her worth as she goes to work at a stock brokerage.

Appearances are deceiving -- or are they? -- when Merle's provincial sister arrives from Arkansas on an average day in the Bradford home, which leads to a comedy of errors -- and a vice raid.

Joannie's investigative research for a stunt journalist implicates Tom in a potential scandal; Mary and Abby search in vain for the owner of the pregnancy test kit Mary finds hidden in the linen closet; Tommy is tasked with teaching Nicholas how to mow the lawn.

Three Bradfords struggle to meet the expectations of others: Nicholas turns truant to escape the long shadow of his siblings; Tom's boss pressures him to participate in a father-son golf tournament; Nancy feels compelled to date a stockbroker uniquely positioned to help David's slumping business.

Tom's sister Vivian sweeps into town with an offer to take the entire family on vacation to Hawaii, where she secretly plans to reunite Tom with their estranged father.

Still in Hawaii, Tom and his father contemplate whether they can or should bother to reconcile their relationship.

When Tommy is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, Mary and Nicholas both feel culpable for different reasons; Merle and Susan adjust to the give and take of married life; Nancy plays travel guide for a visiting colleague from China who doesn't speak English.

The furnace is on the blink, causing a cold front in the Bradford house, but Tom dismisses Mary's offer to fix it; Susan's chance for an internship conflicts with Merle's offer to play winter ball in Puerto Rico; Nicholas goes on strike for a raise in his allowance.

On the heels of splitting up with Merle, Susan discovers she's pregnant; Joannie is intrigued by a man with extrasensory perception; Tommy uses Nicholas as bait to pick up girls.

Elizabeth has difficulty meeting eligible men on campus; Tommy is hazed by the crew when he goes to work for David, which causes a fallout between the brothers; Nicholas has to write a paper on Tom for a class assignment.

Mary's friendship with a doctor begins to develop into a romance; Nicholas dabbles in sales with cure-all face cream; Joannie produces a documentary on her family to gain a promotion at work.

When an all girl band beats out Tommy and Ernie's group for a gig at Senior prom the boys want payback. They decide to nominate Tommy for homecoming queen but when the event gets closer Tommy has doubts.

Overwhelmed and overextended, the family pools its funds to hire a part-time housekeeper; Tommy comes to realize that his best friend has a drinking problem; Nicholas tries to break a world's record.

Tom experiences a midlife crisis as he approaches his fiftieth birthday; Nicholas searches for the perfect name for Susan and Merle's coming child; Nancy has second thoughts when the dull stockbroker she dumped begins seeing Elizabeth.

The Bradfords plan Susan's surprise baby shower; Tommy's frustration with his girlfriend's inexperience leads him to pursue a much older friend of Mary's; Nicholas inadvertently plays Cyrano for a school chum.

The annual winter break festivities lead to offbeat romances for Mary, Joannie and Nancy; Tom's boss coerces him into setting up Tommy with his visiting niece; Elizabeth's new beau is forced to cancel their date for the Valentine's Day dance.

Nicholas's grandfatherly friend Joe Simons returns to Sacramento under false pretenses; Joannie tries to come up with a TV commercial to boost David's struggling business; Tom is smothered by a temp when his secretary goes on vacation.

Nicholas learns the meaning of class distinction when he befriends an underprivileged schoolmate; David's jealousy over Janet's work colleague may be justified; Tommy becomes overprotective when his best friend begins seeing Elizabeth.

Nicholas is targeted by an assertive classmate who wants to go steady with him; Abby's grief is triggered by the visit of a friend of her late husband; Nancy becomes overdrawn at the bank because of all the money she's been lending her siblings.

Abby hires the unemployed mother of one of Nicholas' classmates; Merle puts together a women's basketball team comprised entirely of Bradfords; Tom's effort to finish his novel is undercut when Abby gets published first.

When Tommy protests Tom's frugality, Tom teaches him a lesson by putting him in charge of the family's finances; Joannie begins to doubt the intentions of the higher-up who gave her a plum assignment; Nicholas dukes it out with the class bully, who happens to be a girl.

Tommy decides to forego college in favor of a music career; Tom's sister Vivian returns with her new fiancé; Elizabeth tries out theories from her psychology class on the family.

Nancy bonds with her boyfriend's daughter; Tommy tries to help Ernie find a date for the prom; Nicholas tries running a dog grooming business.

The family makes itself scarce for Tommy's intimate graduation party, but when Tommy is called away to help an injured Irving J. Moore, word gets out that the Bradford house is unoccupied, leading to an all-out brawl for the Class of 1980.