After Carl wins a promotion, domestic tensions explode when Eartha declares she loves Louise and refuses to let her be bullied. Eartha tells Carl he can keep his title if he accepts Louise; Carl promises to protect Eartha and their baby. Family members threaten to take back what she has and spread gossip calling Louise a floozy. At the department store Eartha snaps at nosy women and confronts her mother: 'What right do you have to be Carl's wife?' The episode ends with the mother wounded—'That hurts'—and the household openly fractured.