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Mary Richards arrives in Minneapolis-St. Paul and her long-time friend, Phyllis, finds her an apartment. Although this leads to a conflict with the girl living upstairs, Rhoda Morgenstern, who wanted the apartment herself, the two become friends. Mary starts work at a strange new job – associate producer of a news program for a television station. Her boss is Lou Grant. The following day, Mary's ex-boyfriend, Bill, shows up from out of town and she invites him to her apartment that night. The evening proves to be a disaster when Lou shows up intoxicated and insists upon using her typewriter to write a letter to his wife. While Lou is typing, Bill shows up, and before long it is apparent the romance between Mary and Bill will never be rekindled.

Mary Richards is distressed when a report on the demographics of the television news program for which she works makes her realize she is no longer in her 20's. After a discussion with her friend, Rhoda Morgenstern, the two decide that the time has come to involve themselves socially. They each phone an old boyfriend, whom they have not seen for four or five years, and arrange a get-together for drinks at Mary's apartment. Rhoda's old flame, Armand, arrives with his new wife Nancy on his arm. Mary's old flame, Howard, is still single but is a camera bug and insists on taking pictures of everyone. The girls are further distressed when they realize their guests think they were invited for dinner; the only thing in Mary's refrigerator is a raw carrot.

When the husband of Mary Richards' next door neighbor Phyllis comes down with the chicken pox, Phyllis besieges Mary to allow their daughter Bess to stay with her until her father recovers. Several problems arise later to complicate matters between Mary and Bess when it turns out that Phyllis has always raised Bess according to the latest "How To Raise Your Child" psychology book, and Bess has been accustomed to an unlimited amount of freedom and self-expression. The child, however, soon admits that she would prefer a parent who exercises authority. Mary and little Bess become close friends, and when it is learned that her father does not have chicken pox, Bess does not want to return home.

Mary Richards' friend, Rhoda, talks her into joining the "Better Luck Next Time" club so they will qualify for a group airline rate for a trip to Paris. The club appears to consist of divorced people ranging from squares to would-be swingers. One of the founders, a dentist named Dr. Udall, is taken by Mary's beautiful teeth and before she can stop him engineers her election as club vice president. The following day Mary decides she must confess to Dr. Udall that she is not a divorcee and resign as vice president. The dentist is mortified, but tells her he will take care of the situation. At the next meeting, Mary follows the dentist's instructions and informs the group she is reconciling with her husband. When this does not quite work, she decides to tell them the truth – and is amazed by their reaction.

Ex-professional football player Frank Carelli wants to audition for newsroom boss Lou Grant to become the station's sports announcer. Knowing Frank is not qualified for the job, Lou attempts to put him off without hurting his feelings. Frank doesn't understand and feels he needs an inside connection so, after become acquainted with Mary, he pleads with her to be his "contact." Feeling sorry for Frank, Mary attempts to help him, but the job goes to another ex-grid star. Frank is discouraged and despondent, but Mary and her friend, Rhoda, conspire to lift his spirits. Encouraged by their confidence in his ability to find a suitable occupation, Frank goes home to Miami. Several weeks later Mary and Rhoda receive a tape recording from a very happy Frank, who informs them that he has found the idea job – playground director in a city park.

When her mother appears at the apartment building, Rhoda Morgenstern pretends not to be at home and Mrs. Morgenstern is invited to wait in Mary Richards' apartment. Rhoda refuses to see her, afraid she'll start feeling guilty about being on her own and not returning back home to New York. Unable to convince Rhoda to see her mother, Mary allows Mrs. Morgenstern to stay with her a few days. During the course of her stay Mary begins to understand Rhoda's dilemma. Mrs. Morgenstern constantly insists upon doing things for Mary, buying her gifts and trying to get her to think of her as her own mother. But when the older woman decides to return home, Mary makes one last attempt to reconcile mother and daughter.

Famous author Eric Matthews appears on an interview program at the station and makes a dinner date with Mary Richards. Mary does not realize until after she accepts that she is a foot taller than the writer. After the first date she finds she enjoys Eric's company, and the two become very close friends. Mary, however, is unable to take their relationship seriously because, despite her best efforts, she is still bothered by their difference in height. When Eric gives her his latest manuscript to read, she is astonished to learn that it is a humorous treatment of life as a short man. The manuscript, filled with moments of wit and charm, proves to Mary that Eric does not really consider his shortness to be a disadvantage; his philosophy is that everyone has something about his physical being that he dislikes and considers unattractive.

Newsroom boss Lou Grant places Mary Richards in charge of his television station's news coverage of a local election. A blizzard breaks down the teletype and telephone communications and suddenly Mary finds herself faced with a rebellious crew and a voting toteboard that refuses to function. Ted Baxter is forced into a situation, for the first time, where he must ad lib. The newscaster grimly plods through his entire routine of amateurish impressions of famous personalities, his life history, and then a string of recipes. With no election return to quote, Mary decides to fill in with guests who stop by the station, and even her friend, Rhoda Morgenstern, has an opportunity to get on the air. One of the guests turns out to be the local priest arriving to deliver the sermonette. After several hours the priest and Baxter finish just in time for Chuckles the Clown to show up for his morning show. Fortunately for all, Chuckles brings along a newspaper.

Rhoda Morgenstern meets Bob Pedersen in her speed-reading class, brings him home and introduces him to her best friend, Mary Richards. Before the two girls realize what has happened they find that the three of them are constantly together for dates, lunches and dinners. It becomes increasingly apparent that Bob's interest has switched from Rhoda to Mary. When Rhoda forces a showdown, Bob admits her prefers Mary. Rhoda, naturally, is deeply hurt and the girls stop seeing each other although both soon drop Bob. Later, when Mary's television news program is nominated for an award, she invites Rhoda to attend the luncheon with her. Rhoda is reluctant but finally agrees to go along. When the award is announced, the microphone goes dead. Rhoda, sure Mary has won, tells her to stand up. This proves to be a mistake, and now Mary is the one who is deeply hurt.

When the television news program is expanded from a half hour to an hour, newsroom boss Lou Grant tells Mary Richards she can hire an assistant to help her with the paperwork. Mary's neighbor, Phyllis, has become available for the position because she has been fired by her husband after working a few days as his receptionist. When Phyllis puts her application for the job on the basis of their personal friendship, Mary is forced to hire her. Phyllis insists on being referred to as her co-worker rather than her assistant, and immediately begins disrupting the whole news operation. She becomes friendly with newscaster Ted Baxter and encourages him to attempt a one-man revolt and demand a huge salary increase. She also demands that he be given new writers, such as Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, for his show.

Television news gal Mary Richards receives a notice from the Internal Revenue Service that her last year's tax return is going to be audited and decides that absolute honesty will be the best policy. When agent Robert Brand appears, Mary tries her best to make him feel comfortable. While not exactly a stick-in-the-mud type, Brand proves to be a meticulous individual dedicated to unearthing the last detail of Mary's income. She has kept complete records, however, and she produces data to back up her claimed deduction for taking children on a YWCA picnic and buying them ice cream. She even produces the signed ice cream sticks as receipts. Finding himself attracted to Mary, Brand stretches his investigation over a period of several days. Ultimately, he invites her out to dinner – if she will lend him ten dollars.

Mary Richards allows her friend Phyllis to talk her into getting television newsman Ted Baxter to be a guest speaker at her group meeting of ladies. Phyllis doesn't realize that Ted is totally incapable of ad lib discussion and can only recite what is put before him. Once Ted finishes the prepared material written by Murray Slaughter, the meeting turns into a fiasco when the ladies ask Ted his personal opinions on a number of subjects. The befuddled newsman, unable to respond, goes into a state of shock with a glazed expression on his face. When Phyllis brings him to Mary's apartment, he locks himself in the bathroom and refuses to come out. Mary calls newsroom boss Lou Grant who takes Ted home with him. For the next several days Ted's confidence is shattered and he bobbles practically every line on his news broadcasts.

Allan Stevens is hired as a cameraman at the television station, but the 23-year-old seems to be in hot water constantly with newsroom boss Lou Grant. Mary Richards takes pity on the youth and invites him home for dinner one evening, only to find that Allan misunderstands the invitation and believes it's for a romantic rendezvous. The following day, Allan spreads stories at the station but before Mary can complain to Lou, who has not heard the stories, he tells her Allan is his nephew and pleads with her to be nice to the boy because he had been so gruff with him. When Allan again shows up at Mary's apartment, he finds only Phyllis there. Phyllis has been trying to tell Mary that the best way to handle Allan is to make advances and frighten him off, but when she attempts this ploy, it's Allan who makes the advances.

Mary Richards' plans to spend the holidays with her family are thwarted when she learns she has to work in the television newsroom – alone – on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Determined not to get depressed, Mary puts up a Christmas tree in her apartment and decorates the office with cheery holiday touches, but her heart isn't in it.

Mary Richards is attracted to a man whose brother she used to date and finds herself in an awkward situation with the brothers' parents. Paul Arnell picks Mary up for their first date and tells her they have to drop in to say goodbye to his parents who are leaving for a European vacation. The senior Arnells remember Mary as the girl they thought their favorite son, Howard, was about to marry.

Mary accepts a job as producer of a television talk show for a competitive station. She decides after a great deal of soul-searching, and then finds her last day in the newsroom almost impossible to bear. Mary almost misses her farewell party as she drinks a prolonged farewell luncheon with her co-workers. Then, when she tearfully tries to say her final goodbyes, her boss offers to match her new salary.

John Corcoran, a former newsman at the station, and a close friend of Mary's boss, Lou, begins dating Mary. The two soon find themselves becoming serious about each other. Learning John is married, Mary decides to break the relationship, although John claims he is separated from his wife. Mary accepts an invitation to a party at Murray's home, not realizing that John has also been invited. At the party she attempts to avoid being left alone with John, but finally he forces the issue in front of the other guests. Mary openly terminates their relationship, but the pair part as friends.

Mary arrives home to discover her apartment has been burglarized. After she reports it to the police, two plainclothesmen arrive. One officer seems to find Mary very attractive and prolongs investigation as much as possible. Mary grows despondent when it appears there are not very many clues and the chances are slight she will recover any of her possessions. She grows even more downhearted when she finds out the insurance will only cover part of her loss. Two days later she is dumbfounded to find her apartment has again been burglarized; this time they have taken most of her furniture!

Mary Richards makes her acting debut in a little theater play written by her newsroom cohort, Murray. Excited and proud of Murray's talent, Mary invites the gang from the office to her apartment for a premiere party while they wait to find out how the local critics review the play.

Mary Richards checks into the hospital for a tonsillectomy and finds out her nasty roommate, Loretta, gives her more trouble than the operation. Mary tries to win Loretta over by sharing her chocolates and rental TV set but the situation seems hopeless.

Mary Richards can't understand why her boss, Lou, keeps turning down her dinner invitation – until she has a phone conversation with his wife. After talking to Mrs. Grant and learning that the Grants are separated, Mary inadvertently becomes involved in their domestic affairs because Lou asks for her advice.

One of Mary Richards' childhood friends turns up as the new receptionist at the television station where Mary works, and wastes no time in renewing the friendship. "Twinks" makes a pest of herself with the entire newsroom and insists that Mary be maid of honor at her upcoming wedding, to which everyone in the office receives a mimeographed invitation.

Chuck, a thirty-five-year-old bachelor, is attracted to Rhoda. She pretends she shares Mary's apartment and continues the deception as the romance grows. Rhoda becomes aware that her boyfriend is unemployed and soon begins worrying about the source of his income. Finally he reveals he's resigned the high-paying position of vice president of a large company and plans to begin a brand new career as a forest ranger. The woodcraft enthusiast invites Mary and Rhoda to an overnight hike with some of his friends. Rhoda has a terrible time. Unable to persuade him to return to his old job, Rhoda joins him in studying trees, hoping to translate the knowledge into a more lucrative career.

Mary Richards' boss, Lou Grant, gets in trouble with the new station manager when the news show ratings drop. Mary attempts to organize a strike when the station manager tries to get the newsroom staff to evaluate Grant's work. The strike flops, but Mary is elected to see the owner of the station, an eccentric millionaire and former cowboy actor. The owner storms into the newsroom and unexpectedly hires Lou to be news manager of one of his other stations. When it is pointed out that he already has a man there, the eccentric rehires Lou to his old job. The new station manager gets his just medicine when he gets fired because he cancelled the owner's favorite children's cartoon show.