4. Going Once, Going Twice

The Gallaghers are given 72 hours to find money needed to buy the house or face eviction. Fiona (Emmy Rossum) and Sean (Dermot Mulroney) visit Patrick (Brent Sexton), who confirms he took a $60,000 loan on the house and is unable to pay it, resulting in their eviction. To complicate matters, Chuckie (Kellen Michael) is now forced to live with the Gallaghers, as Sammi is still in prison.

Frank (William H. Macy) tries to set Debbie (Emma Kenney) up with terminally ill men to take over their wealth, but Debbie rejects all of the options. Lip (Jeremy Allen White) accompanies Helene (Sasha Alexander) to an academic conference in Indianapolis, where she will promote her new book based on her research. However, at the conference, a man notes that new discoveries in the past weeks have basically dismissed the entire book, devastating Helene. She gets drunk and tries to get Lip to have sex with her in public, which he declines. After she vomits in the bathroom, Helene laments the situation, and suggests Lip will find the right woman for his age. The following morning, as they leave, Helene asks Lip to forget their conversation and the conference.

With Patrick unwilling to help the family, Fiona and Sean meet with a friend to consult on their financial situation. Fiona is surprised when she is told that she is eligible for a $100,000 loan as she never had a credit card, but she must pay $3,500 for the down payment. As Fiona tries to get money from her family, Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) offers to pay the entire payment with his firearms money, which Fiona refuses. Ian (Cameron Monaghan) visits the firehouse to thank the firefighters for saving him, and is surprised to learn there is an entire group of gay firefighters.

Ian tries to flirt with the firefighter who saved him but learns he is married; he ends up exchanging a conversation with another co-worker, Caleb (Jeff Pierre). Kevin (Kevin Howey) is upset upon seeing that the hipsters have stopped frequenting the Alibi Room, later realizing that the bar's advertising of the scathing review made them leave.

Frank presents Debbie with a new opportunity: a babysitting job for the Wexler family, whose mother Erika (Ever Carradine) is dying. Debbie is initially uninterested, but chooses to accept after meeting the father, Tyler (Michael McMillian). Kevin catches Yanis (Will Sasso) trying to light a house on fire, believing the owner to have caused his accident. Kevin finally reveals he is responsible; Yanis tries to light him on fire, but ends up setting himself on fire by accident. After pawning Gus' grandmother ring to get the loan, Fiona and her siblings attend the bidding. While they offer $100,000, other people end up bidding for more, and the house is eventually sold to an unnamed couple for $130,000. Fiona and her family are left devastated, realizing they are now homeless.