The tunjuk was set in a fictional small Southern town called Raytown. Revolved around a typical squabbling family, headed sejak Thelma Harper — a buxom, blue-haired, purse-lipped 65-year-old widow, who is loudmouthed and outspoken. Living with Thelma originally was only her uptight spinster sister Fran, a journalist for a local paper. Thelma's son, Vinton (whose wife, Mitzi, had left him to become a koktel waitress in Las Vegas, Nevada) and his two children, Sonja and Buzz, moved in with her.

During the first season, Vinton forged a relationship with the Harper’s flirtatious next-door neighbor...