Anne Bobby

After a plastic surgeon and two contact-lens salesmen are murdered, the detectives search for a suspect who may be a racist.

When he's hired to write and direct a videotape on dating, Paul's preoccupation with the project begins to annoy Jamie. However, when she offers some tips on what she has done in the past to get her man, Paul is only more unnerved by the assignment. To help with his research, Jamie suggests that they pretend they've never met and that Paul try and pick her up. Meanwhile, back at the Buchman's apartment, Ira has run into Jamie's classmate, Susannah, who has dropped by early for a visit. When Paul overtures fail to impress Jamie, she decides to show him a thing or two about picking someone up in a bar. Although Paul refuses to believe that her approach will work, he is more than a little surprised when Jamie attracts another man. But Paul's taking notes soon scares him off. Meanwhile, uncomfortable with leaving Susannah at his cousin's apartment alone, Ira decides that he must stick around just to be on the safe side. Still in search of ideas for the video, Paul demonstrates how he used Murray to meet women. Jamie counters with a ploy of her own, asking Paul for help with something on a high shelf at the market. Paul responds by using one pay phone to call Jamie on another and ask for a date. And, while Jamie and Paul are finding it hard to come up with novel ways to meet, after initially getting off on the wrong foot, Ira and Susannah find they're attracted to one another. Finally, when Paul finally finds an approach that works wonders with his wife, he and Jamie are surprised to see Ira and Susannah leaving the apartment together.

Though Paul is getting ready to celebrate, he can't help but think that this birthday will be like so many others -- a disaster. Jamie suggests thinking positively and not dwell on the past, but Paul senses his worst fears are being confirmed when Ira offers to kill himself to make up for the fact that his cat ate his date's pet bird. This incident prompts Paul to recall his last birthday when Lisa gave him a powerful sleeping pill just before a big surprise party Jamie arranged for him. After recalling the year Jamie thought hosting a birthday party would be just the thing to help Fran take her mind off her failing marriage, Paul remembers how a big snowstorm ruined another celebration. Thinking back to his first birthday with Jamie, he then remembers how being excluded from his traditional birthday walk resulted in her almost leaving him. And, only after Paul admitted to spending the walk thinking about how wonderful life would be with her did Jamie reconsider the hasty decision. Back in the present, Jamie talks Ira in from his perch on the window ledge, though Susannah still isn't convinced that death isn't the appropriate payback for the loss of her bird. And, while Paul sees the whole episode in the light of his long history of failed birthday celebrations, Jamie insists he isn't cursed and that they all try to have a good time. But when Murray chases Ira's cat right out the apartment's open window, Paul fears are, once again, confirmed.

Between starting a catalog for his sporting goods store and having a new girlfriend, Susannah, things seem to be going Ira's way. But when his ex-wife Marianne suddenly arrives after the death of her latest husband, a European count, Paul is certain things are about to take a turn for the worse. Although neither Ira, Jamie or Susannah seem upset with her sudden appearance, Paul is unhappy, especially when Marianne offers to loan Ira the money to finance his latest venture. But when she also produces some tickets for a big basketball game, even Paul is tempted to change his opinion. While hoping to persuade Ira to change his mind, Paul tries convincing Susannah that Marianne's reappearance means nothing. Yet, as they are preparing to leave for the game, Paul discovers that Ira has accepted Marianne's offer of a loan. But when Paul refuses to sign the papers, the two cousins end up not speaking with one another. As a result, a disgruntled Paul ends up in a fight at the game with New York Knick's star Patrick Ewing. After five days of Paul and Ira not talking to each other, Jamie has had enough, especially since she and Fran are working on Ira's new catalog. However, when an argument reveals that neither Jamie nor Ira liked one another at first, even they end up not speaking to one another. When Paul finally agrees to sign the loan papers, Marianne sweetens the deal with a loan to finish his latest film. Seeing it as the way to help his cousin, he accepts and then gives the check to Ira. Finally, to get the money he needs to finish his film and pay back Marianne, Paul considers a lawsuit against Patrick Ewing.

After receiving their anniversary gift from his mother, Paul and Jamie abandon their agreement not to get each other anything. Jamie offers to make him a list, but Paul insists he knows her well enough to pick out something on his own. However, as they each set out to shop, Jamie turns to Ira for help, while Paul consults with Fran and Lisa. Jamie finally gives up and sends Ira to get something while, at the department store where Lisa works, Paul is finally persuaded to buy his wife an expensive silver serving tray. When Lisa shows up with a bunch of glass grapes instead of the tray, Paul must come up with another gift on the spot. And when Ira arrives with Paul's gift, Jamie is shocked to discover it's a vintage poster from "The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman," the first movie her husband ever saw. Serious about the fact that it's the best gift he's ever received, Paul then presents Jamie with a piece of paper which entitles her to "one magical night. " But when she's certain it means reservations for all of them to have dinner at the ultra exclusive Twilight Room, Paul is in trouble. At the Twilight Room, Ira sends the women off to the bar so he and Paul can persuade the maitre d' to give them a table. Yet, without a reservation, they stand no chance of getting in and soon are forced to leave. Ending up at a loud, crowded and smoky rock club where Ira's girlfriend Susannah performs, Paul finally explains the mix-up with Jamie's gift. Though upset that he sought help, Jamie is on shaky ground herself when Paul reveals that Ira consulted with him about the present she claims to have bought. Jamie is certain that the entire episode has called their marriage into question. And when they find that the newsstand where they first met has burned down, the Buchmans are puzzled by evidence which suggests they never met and never married.