Season 3

Complete listed story — includes the ending

1. Summer Fun, Summer Not

Having graduated from high school and working all summer at Salingers Restaurant, Bailey and Will plan a trip to Mexico for Labor Day, but Sarah and Will's girlfriend, Gina, decide to tag along. Unfortunately, they never make it to Mexico when their jeep breaks down in the middle of an unfamiliar neighborhood in downtown San Diego. As a result, Sarah and Gina desert the guys and head back to San Francisco on a bus. When Bailey and Will try to look for a telephone to call for help, they return to the jeep only to find it gone, having been stolen by unknown locals because Bailey unwisely left the keys in the jeep's ignition system. Bailey and Will have a fistfight because each blames the other for their predicament, but they realize that ten years of friendship is not worth a fight. Back in San Francisco, Kirsten's mother, Ellie, is spending a few days living at the Salinger house with Charlie and Kirsten because her marriage is falling apart. She tells Kirsten that Gene discovered about an old affair of hers, and Kirsten would not forgive her until she forgives Charlie. Meanwhile, Julia, working all summer as a receptionist, runs into Griffin, who has arrived back in town without telling her. He tells her that after serving his sentence, he returned to visit his mother, but unwilling to live with his authoritarian father, he joined the Merchant Marines and is currently on shore leave for a few weeks. Julia gets somewhat angry that Griffin never answered her letters that she wrote to him while he was in New Orleans, because he claims that he is not the type of person who communicates or writes letters. He tells her he is still in love with her. Also, Claudia returns home from summer camp in love with a boy who everybody thinks is made up, but he comes to visit Claudia and their disbelief infuriates her.

2. Going, Going, Gone

Will is leaving for college in Seattle and his new roommate, Tucker, comes to meet him. Bailey feels threatened by his presence, and they have a fight. The authorities find and return Bailey's jeep (but stripped of several parts including all four tires), and shortly afterwards, he decides to live in a dorm to meet people and move on with his life. Kirsten gets a job far away and they have to deal with the distance. She tells Charlie that if they were married things might have been different. Meanwhile, Julia wants the immature and irresponsible Griffin to find a place of his own and gives him some money, but he spends all the money (and his) buying her a car to impress her. Later, Griffin shows up unannounced at an office building where Julia works as a receptionist wanting to hang out with her and refuses to leave. After Griffin confronts and mouths off to Julia's stern boss for making her work too hard, Julia gets fired. Afterward, Julia and Griffin have a serious argument about the incident where after Griffin brushes it off, the frustrated Julia gets angry and she tells him to grow up and stop acting like a lovesick wild child. Griffin reacts by angrily yelling back at Julia, claiming that he's always had a problem with authority stemming from the lifelong abuse and mistreatment by his abusive, military-minded father. Afterwards, Griffin finally accepts the fact that he is, and always will be, an immature loser and slacker with no ambition, so he decides to leave town to settle in San Diego with the Merchant Marines to move on with his life and give Julia some space, but he tells Julia that he may return for her some day. Elsewhere, Claudia wants her relationship with Byron to be just like Julia and Griffin's, but Byron is more interested in Julia than in her. As a result, Claudia breaks up with Byron and unfairly blames Julia for stealing her boyfriend.

3. Short Cuts

Bailey meets a guy named Cooper at his first day of college. Cooper convinces Bailey to take easy classes so he can make good grades and have time to have fun. Bailey faces a very difficult computer test and finds cheating as the only way out. At Grant High School, Sarah, Julia and Justin are seniors competing for a writing competition that gives a college spot. Sarah and Julia are writing about their family dramas and Justin decides to write about Julia's pregnancy, which makes her really furious. After Kirsten's boss discovers that she copied her essay from a book, Charlie decides to help her and accidentally finds her anti-depressives prescription. Kirsten reveals that she has been diagnosed as a manic depressive which the symptoms apparently surfaced the previous year shortly after their aborted wedding. She loses her PhD and her job.

4. Deal with It

Kirsten becomes more and more depressed, and not even a job as Salinger's hostess makes her feel better. Charlie tries to help her as much as he can, but nothing seems to work, yet he stubbornly refuses to give up on her. He wants her to get better fast and medication can take six weeks. Meanwhile, Cooper lets Bailey crash at his place. Julia starts to date him, and things get awkward between the three of them. Bailey asks Julia not to date his friend, but she decides to date him anyway. Later, she realizes how much she and Cooper do not have in common. Bailey is looking for a new place and finds a cheap apartment with a good roommate, an older woman named Callie Martel, who Sarah really does not like, but Bailey tells her not to worry. Claudia has to find a plumber to fix the pipes and gets yelled at by Charlie because it costs $3,000, but she says she's only age 13 and that was not her job. Note: This is Alexondra Lee's first appearance on the show as Callie Martel.

5. Mixed Signals

Cooper wants to sleep with Julia, but she tells him that she is not ready because of her pregnancy scare. Julia then tries to see if she can go through with sleeping with Cooper, but she can not so they break up for good. After Bailey moves out of the house, Claudia finally takes down the camping tent in the living room where she has been sleeping for the past two years and moves into his old bedroom. Jody tells Claudia that her mother's new live-in boyfriend came into her room one night and kissed her, but Jody begs Claudia not to tell anyone because the boyfriend has been a positive influence in Jody's mother's life because she has stopped drinking, using drugs, has gotten a steady job, and so it would devastate her to learn that the boyfriend is a suspected pedophile. Claudia invites Jody to stay for a couple of days at the Salinger household which drags on into over one week. After Charlie tells Claudia that Jody cannot sleep over anymore, she finally confides in him that Jody's mother's boyfriend is sexually abusing her. Meanwhile, Kirsten tries a new anti-depressent medication which her depression turns into compulsive cleaning and organizing, which drives her crazy and she decides to go off the medication, but she immediately becomes depressed and withdrawn more than ever. Elsewhere, Callie tells Bailey that her old boyfriend, Tom, is going to be at the art show she's appearing in to display her paintings, and asks Bailey to pretend to be her boyfriend so he will stop asking her out. Bailey says he'll help her out, but then finds out that Tom is his art professor. Later, Jody angrily confronts Claudia for telling Charlie about her mother's boyfriend's advances and adding that Charlie told Jody's mother, who reacted by throwing her boyfriend out, and then fell off the wagon by getting drunk and is then arrested and jailed... exactly as Jody feared would happen. Social Services is sending Jody to live with her divorced father far away. After Claudia has an argument with Charlie for betraying her trust about Jody, she makes a phone call to Kirsten's parents.

6. Going Home

Kirsten's parents, Gene and Ellie, arrive and Charlie gets furious with Claudia for telling them about Kirsten's worsening mental problems since he does not want help dealing with Kirsten due to his stubborn pride. Gene keeps blaming Charlie for Kirsten's worsening mental condition and threats to sue him. Ellie can not interfere or side with Charlie this time because she does not want to ruin her marriage again. They decide to take Kirsten back to Chicago to commit her to a mental hospital, and Charlie tries to stop them. Eventually, they call a truce and all ask Kirsten what she wants to do, but she is too withdrawn and disturbed by this point into a child-like state to decide or understand anything. Meanwhile, Julia and Sarah travel to Whitmore University in New Hampshire for their college interviews, but they can not keep their minds away from home. Julia realizes it is better to go to a college close to home. After Bailey has an argument with Charlie about keeping Kirsten's mental problems a secret, he goes back to his apartment where Callie confides in him that she is having similar problems with her estranged father, who is having a 60th birthday party that weekend, and she and Bailey drink to celebrate their independence from their dysfunctional families. After Charlie caves in and allows Gene and Ellie to take the near-catatonic Kirsten away to have her committed, Bailey and Julia decide to go home to comfort Charlie. Claudia can not forgive herself for what happened, but Charlie tells Claudia that it was not all her fault.

7. Personal Demons

Charlie is angry and frustrated because Kirsten is gone from his life. A social worker named Grace Wilcox comes by the restaurant looking for support in her feed-the-homeless program. She wants the leftovers from Salinger's, but Charlie kicks her out of the place. An old friend of Nick Salinger's named Earl arrives looking for a job, and Charlie gives him one because his father used to know him. Claudia believes that everything bad happening is the house's fault, so she gets an exorcist. Someone opens an account in the name of Nick Salinger, and they think it was the exorcist, but actually it was Earl. Meanwhile, Bailey tells Callie that the last time he had sex was two years ago. She seduces him, and they sleep together. Sarah is throwing a Halloween party, and Bailey goes so he would not feel so bad for cheating on her. Julia is upset because Justin is dating a new girl and tries to ruin everything, but regrets it and gets them back together. Bailey has a fight with Sarah and goes to Callie for comfort, but she is with another guy, so Bailey decides to look for comfort in a beer.

8. Not So Fast

Julia meets a Stanford teacher, who is also a writer. They become friends, and she gets inspired to write. She asks for his opinion, and he tells her that she's not good. She is devastated, but after she finds out that her mother only chose music after college, she realizes that it is too soon to decide what to do for the rest of her life. An old violinist colleague of Diana named Avery Baltus introduces himself to Claudia and tries to develop in her Diana's talent with the violin. Claudia gets overexcited and Charlie tells her not to hurry, that she still has her whole life ahead, but she is stubborn and decides to enter the conservatory. Elsewhere, Bailey has the chicken pox, and Sarah takes care of him, but he does not want to deal with his guilt over cheating on her. They have a fight, but Sarah loves him too much to stay mad at him forever. Note: This is Alexondra Lee's first episode credited as a series regular after recurring for the previous episodes this season.

9. Gimme Shelter

Charlie has a slogan contest at Salinger's, and the winner wants to bring homeless people to have dinner at the restaurant. Charlie has to kick them out so his clients would not leave, and Grace prints in the newspaper a bias opinion what he did, giving him a hard time. They have a discussion, and after Grace admits being wrong about him, they come up with a solution: to allow one evening per week to close the Salinger's Restaurant for a feed-the-homeless dinner. Meanwhile, Sarah is worried because Bailey is drinking too much, but he says he's only celebrating. He tries to get on the college hockey team, but he's not in good shape, so he gets invited to join the wrestling team, which is the worst at the college and his coach, Mr. Petrocelli, is too lenient on the team. Bailey does not support Sarah's new job, and they have a fight. She says he's changed since he moved in with Callie. Julia is having problems with the roofers, Sam and his brother Alec. Alec offers her pot, and she turns it down. She talks with his brother, Sam, and he fires Alec. They flirt. Also, Claudia tries to get back at Charlie for not letting her go to the conservatory.

10. Close to You

Bailey saves Callie from being date raped. She is scared of going out of the apartment, and Sarah tries to be her friend and wonders why she does not have many female friends. Meanwhile, Charlie is helping Grace with her homeless program. He worries about her safety because she lives in a dangerous neighborhood. She tries to kiss him, but he tells her that he has someone – Kirsten. After Sam gets fired for not covering the roof, Julia rehires him from her own money. He discovers her lie, and she kisses him. Elsewhere, Claudia is offered a column in the school paper, and she soon realizes that something's up with Bailey due to his moody behavior. Callie tells him that she wants someone like him.

11. I Do

Joe is marrying a younger woman and wants the wedding held at the Salinger house, which reminds Charlie of his own aborted wedding to Kirsten. Charlie realizes that if he and Kirsten had gotten married, they would be celebrating their first anniversary. Charlie asks Grace to be his date at the wedding, but she gets confused when he makes a speech that is definitely about Kirsten. She tells him to make decisions about his life. Meanwhile, Sarah wants to fix Callie with her cousin to keep her away from Bailey, but Callie turns it into a double date right away. She believes that she and Bailey are drifting apart, and she decides to sleep with him, but Bailey cannot do it. They promise to give it another try, but Bailey sleeps with Callie again. Elsewhere, Sam does not want anything with Julia and Claudia says she's pathetic, but Julia insists and Sam decides to return to the house.

12. Desperate Measures

Charlie decides to go to Chicago to see Kirsten and leaves Julia in charge of the household chores. Kirsten is very happy to see him, although Ellie is not. She tells him that she wants to run away to San Francisco on a road trip, but halfway there she becomes depressed and withdrawn again and Charlie realizes she's not ready to go back and they return to Chicago. Kirsten tells Charlie that he is part of her mental problems. Charlie leaves her there. Back in San Francisco, Julia is more concerned about her personal life and going out with Sam than her little brother and sister. Claudia claims to be sick, but Julia does not believe her and thinks she's faking to gain attention. Julia continues spending all her time with Sam until she gets a phone call the very next day from the local hospital, saying Claudia had collapsed at school the previous day from appendicitis and had a surgery. Claudia will not forgive Julia for ignoring her until she overhears how sorry she is. Bailey lies to Sarah in order to not sleep with her. He skips wrestling practice, and Sarah finds a drunk Bailey passed out at his place. He tells her he slept with Callie, but they do not break up. Callie is tired of being used by Bailey.

13. Christmas

It is Christmas time and the Salinger's grandfather Jake Gordon comes back. Charlie decides to get rid of all Kirsten's stuff so he can finally move on with his life. He tries to help a homeless man at the restaurant find a job and place to live, but later learns that it was all a waste because the homeless man suffers from the exact same mental illness as Kirsten. Sarah and Callie are away for the holidays. Bailey, alienated with his family, wants to spend Christmas all by himself, but Coach Petrocelli does not let him and instead asks Bailey over to his place to watch wrestling on TV, where they bond by talking about Bailey's dead parents and Petrocelli's failed marriage and a daughter who never calls or writes. Meanwhile, Julia notices that Jake can not see very well, and he tells her he's going blind. Charlie sees him leaving early Christmas morning, and Jake says he has to go for a chemotherapy appointment for cancer and he does not want to be a burden on them anymore. Charlie agrees not to tell anyone about Jake's failing health. Julia asks Bailey to spend Christmas in the house, and he brings Coach Petrocelli with him since Coach's daughter is not coming to visit anymore. Stuart gives Claudia a very expensive gift and she tries to give him a bad gift, but he loves it. She tells him that she does not like him in that way, and he gets mad, but apologizes and stays for Christmas dinner. Grace shows up and Charlie invites her to stay, and they all happily celebrate Christmas.

14. Life's Too Short

Libby Dwyer, Julia's old friend, has killed herself. Justin and Julia feel like if they paid more attention to her she would be alive. Her death makes everybody wonder what they are doing with their lives as they find her journal, and by reading it, they realize that the pressure for Libby to study hard to enter college was too much for her to take. Sarah realizes that life's too short to spend it with a ruined relationship, so she decides to break up with Bailey, who takes it very hard and begins drinking even more. Meanwhile, Charlie is having some friends over for his high school reunion. He misses the good old days, but when the truth comes up about his friends troubled lives, Charlie realizes his high school life was not as good as he remembered.

15. Significant Others

Bailey is very excited with wrestling and wants to tryout for All Stars. Although Coach Petrocelli does not think he is able, Bailey gets obsessed to win. He wants someone to be there for him, but Callie is mad at him and wants him to move out. Everybody else is busy but Claudia, who misses him at home, and she shows up. Afterwards, Bailey celebrates every victory with a few drinks, and every time he gets more and more drunk. Meanwhile, Julia finds out that Sam was engaged, and she joins him in his dinner with his ex-fiancée. She is getting married, and Sam realizes he still loves her. Elsewhere, Charlie gets an award for helping the homeless, and he realizes how much he likes Grace when another man asks her out.

16. I Declare

Bailey is not doing so well in school due to his increasing drinking. Callie throws a big party at their place and the landlord threats to kick them out for the loud noise and not paying the rent on time. He is trying to stay sober, but he finds it very hard. Unable to keep up with school, Bailey decides to quit some classes. Meanwhile, Charlie does not want to rush things with Grace, but the more they try to slow it down, the more they want to be together, so they sleep together. Julia is accepted in Stanford, but is not sure she wants to go. She wants some time off from studies and to find herself. Charlie thinks it is all Sam's fault for influencing her. Elsewhere, Ross is dating one of Claudia's teachers, and she outs him to the entire school. She tries to fix it, but Ross tells her it is not that easy.

17. Misery Loves Company

Will surprises Bailey showing up at his place for a weekend visit. After seeing how frequently (and how much) Bailey drinks beer and hard liquor on a daily basis, Will thinks Bailey drinks too much after learning that he never appears to stop. Will asks Sarah what is going on, but she does not want to talk about Bailey because of their recent breakup... because of Bailey drinking all the time. Before leaving town to return to college, Will privately tries to advise Bailey about cutting back on his excessive drinking, but Bailey convinces Will that it is no big deal. Callie asks Bailey to move into her room. Meanwhile, Grace's apartment burns down, so she moves into the Salinger house. Charlie does not want Julia to turn down Stanford. Julia, angry with Charlie, moves to Sam's so she would not have to listen to him. Charlie does not want her there, and they have a big fight. Upset over Julia invading his privacy, Sam tells Julia she should go back to the house. Seeing how drunk that Bailey frequently is, Claudia tries to get Bailey to stop drinking, but he ignores her. Note: Bailey shows Will his fake ID and Will states there is 'No way he could pass for twenty-seven'. At the time of filming, Scott Wolf was in fact twenty-seven.

18. MYOB

Bailey is spending so much money on drinking that he can not even afford rent. Julia wants to get Bailey and Sarah back together, but she's still very mad at him and Bailey continues being rude and belligerent (due to being drunk all the time). Sarah warns Julia about Bailey's drinking problem, but Julia does not believe it. Julia gets Bailey a job with Sam at another construction site after seeing how short on money that Bailey has. Bailey steals expensive liquor from the house he was working on and gets fired. After Julia confronts Bailey by asking if he has a drinking problem, he refuses to give an answer and tries changing the subject. Julia wonders if what Sarah told her is true. They try to talk to Bailey about it, but he will not listen. Taking advantage of Julia and Charlie's fight, Bailey gets Charlie to support him. Meanwhile, Julia and Claudia do not like Grace living at their house. Grace begins to think that moving in with Charlie was not a good idea after she has an encounter with a woman at a grocery store while shopping with Charlie and Owen in which the woman mistakes Grace (a black woman) as being Owen's nanny instead of Charlie's girlfriend. Also, Charlie tells Claudia she should try to be Grace's friend, so Claudia offers to volunteer at her program, but that does not last long. It is revealed that the non-maternal Grace can not stand the kids. Charlie wonders if Grace really wants to be there.

19. Point of No Return

Grace's friendly and liberal African American parents, Martin and Rose, are spending time with them, and Grace does not like it since they seem to try to give them advice, but Charlie does not seem to mind. Meanwhile, Claudia is spending time with Avery, which makes his son jealous of her. Bailey spends all his money in drinking and can not afford a clown for Owen's third birthday party, so he dresses as a clown. He gets to the party drunk and ruins it with his antics and belligerence. Afterwards, Martin tells Charlie that Bailey might have a drinking problem, but Charlie still refuses to accept that idea, even though everybody else thinks so too. They all convince Charlie that Bailey has a serious drinking problem. Also, Julia breaks up with Sam because he's a racist.

20. Intervention

The Salinger family tries to solve Bailey's drinking problem. Claudia calls him and tells a story about Owen falling down the stairs. Bailey rushes to the house, when Charlie, Julia, Claudia, Grace and Sarah confront him. One by one, they all try to show Bailey that he has a serious drinking problem. Still in denial, Bailey refuses to accept it and fights with everybody. Joe arrives later that day and tells Bailey and everyone else that his late father, Nick Salinger, also had a serious drinking problem for many years, but he stayed sober for 18 years until he died. Bailey does not believe Joe, but Charlie does and proves it to be true with stories from his childhood. They all try to get Bailey into an AA program, but he refuses claiming that alcoholism is a part of who he is, and he openly states he would rather die than seek treatment. After everybody has given up, Claudia tells Bailey that if he does not face his drinking problem and look for help to stop his self-destructive lifestyle, than he will no longer be a part of the family. Bailey leaves without saying a word. In 2009, TV Guide ranked this episode #92 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.

21. Hitting Bottom

Bailey is alone, and the Salingers' strategy to not speak to him does not seem to be working. Bailey actually increases his drinking and vandalizes his father's gravestone, blaming his dead father for giving him this "disease." After contemplating suicide, Bailey decides to drink himself to death. As a result, Bailey continues to alienate other people in his life with his constant drunkenness, first by angering Coach Petrocelli by missing an important wrestling match and later Callie by wanting to use her for sex. The drunken Bailey even puts three-year-old Owen in danger by kidnapping him from day care and keeping him out all day. Meanwhile, Claudia goes to Avery searching for answers for questions about her father. Like Bailey, Claudia too blames their late father for Bailey's drinking problem. Elsewhere, Griffin Holbrook returns with a minor leg injury from a boating accident in the Merchant Marines, and Julia encourages him to sue so he can be financially stable for a while he looks for steady work. Later that night, Bailey gets into a car accident while driving his jeep with Sarah, who gets seriously injured. After trying to drink himself to death by drinking several whiskey bottles, Bailey passes out, but later wakes up and upon seeing that he's not dead, goes to Sarah's hospital bed and asks for her help.

22. Leap of Faith

As Sarah begins to recover from Bailey's car accident that has left her face physically scarred, he starts to go to AA meetings. At Bailey's first meeting, he bumps into Walter Alcott, the man that killed his parents. Bailey has second thoughts about going to the meetings, and he quits. Meanwhile, Griffin gets $100,000 from his lawsuit settlement and decides to help his estranged father. Julia realizes that Major Holbrook is friendly with Griffin just for the money. Elsewhere, Grace decides to run for city council and makes the Salingers's house her campaign headquarters.

23. Promises, Promises

Bailey is sober for a week. Callie gets jealous because Bailey is spending much more time with Sarah--who meets a guy at her doctor's office and they hit it off--than with her. Callie tries to help Bailey, but he tells her that she's part of the reason for his drinking. Callie goes to Sarah and tries to find out why Sarah is helping Bailey so much. In response, Sarah tells Callie that she does not want to get back with Bailey because she's dating someone new. Callie gets drunk and insults Bailey. The next day, Bailey moves out of Callie's apartment and back to the Salinger house. Meanwhile, Julia starts skipping school in order to hang out with rebel Griffin, and she starts to get an 'F' in history. Griffin tells her to go back to school, and she does. Also, Claudia is rightfully convinced that Grace is too self-absorbed with running for city council and does not care about her and Owen, so she makes up a story about a reporter wanting to meet her just to spend some time with Grace. When the ruse is revealed, Charlie gets somewhat angry with Claudia that she led Grace on, but Claudia points out that she proved that Grace is more concerned about the reporter and the publicity from the family. Note: This marks Alexondra Lee's final appearance in the series.

24. A Little Faith

Claudia is invited to play the violin at a concert in Los Angeles, and nobody can take her there but Bailey. They go and Claudia kicks him out of the rehearsals because he is distracting her. In the hotel room, Bailey has nothing to do... and he really wants to drink. He calls Sarah, but she is not home. He calls Charlie, but he is not at the restaurant or at home. He drinks his entire hotel room's mini-bar and forgets to pick up Claudia. Joe shows up and finds a drunk Bailey. He and his wife pick up Claudia, who is very disappointed at Bailey. Afterwards, Joe has a serious talk with Bailey, where once again Bailey tries to pass the blame for all this on his dead father as well as the fact that Nick Salinger never told his children or anyone else about his drinking problem since alcoholism is hereditary. Joe responds that even if Bailey did inherit his father's alcoholism, he also inherited the will to stop drinking. On the way back home, Bailey and Claudia pass by an AA meeting at a local church, and Claudia tells Bailey to go and he does. Back in San Francisco, Grace is really sick, and she may be pregnant. After taking a pregnancy test, she finds out she is not, which makes her thrilled. Charlie is sad, and when they talk, Grace tells him that she does not want to have children. Also, Julia decides to travel with Griffin on a road trip through Nevada, but the motorcycle breaks down and they have to get back to San Francisco to get it fixed. Griffin decides to buy the repair shop.

25. You Win Some, You Lose Some

Bailey begins to show signs of recovery as he makes peace with Coach Petrocelli and other people that he let down during his drinking binges. At the same time, Sarah dumped her boyfriend. Her mother tells Bailey that she got into Brown University (Sarah's disapproving parents are trying to keep her away from Bailey). Bailey gets angry at her because she is moving away, but she decides to go to Berkeley instead. They kiss, but Sarah tells Bailey that she just wants to be friends with him. Meanwhile, Charlie and Grace break up because she reveals that she does not like children. Charlie, although telling Grace that he does love her, says that his parental responsibilities come first. Shortly afterwards, Grace wins the election for city council and after a victory party Charlie throws for her at the restaurant, she gladly moves out of the Salinger house and gives up all her responsibilities to the family. Justin is going to Europe for two months and ask Julia to go with him. She does not and marries Griffin in haste. At the end, Charlie, Bailey and Claudia give Julia their mother's wedding ring, and she moves out to travel in Europe.