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In the kitchen, Alice leans on the counter and watches the plumber fix the sink with a dreamy look on her face; she drops some coins into the "Bad Thoughts" jar. Finn comes out to ask her something, but gets distracted by the plumber. Alice pushes the "Bad Thoughts" jar over to him, and he pulls out his wallet and drops a 20-dollar bill into the jar. They both sigh happily.

[Opening credits]

Alice's Video Diary: Alice holds up a picture of her mom, taken last year, protesting. She comments that it was embarrassing, but this week, she'd like to see her mom's protesting spirit.

In the Thrift Store in town, Alice looks through the clothes on the rack then sees a jacket on display on the counter. She asks the clerk how much it is (pointing at it) and he tells her that if she touches it, she's bought it, then says that it's $50.00. Alice tells the jacket, "You will be mine!" and the clerk tells her that if she talks to the jacket, she's bought it.

At The Bookworm, a clerk listens to a customer going on and on about Jackie Collins and Danielle Steele, and their misunderstood genius, then blows up and starts yelling at the customer and at the world in general. She storms out while both Diane and the customer watch; after she's gone, Diane tells the customer that the clerk's dog just died, and it was named Danielle Steele.

At home, Alice runs into her room to check her piggy bank for money, but there's only one lonely quarter in there. She then runs downstairs to check the sofa for coins, but John tells her that he's already checked and there's nothing there. As Alice pulls up a half-rotted orange, he adds, "except for a rotten orange." She drops it back into the sofa and runs over to the "Bad Thoughts" jar and grabs it up with a look of triumph on her face, but then sees Mac looking at her, so puts the jar back down and drops her last quarter into it. At dinner time, Diane tells the family about what happened at work with the clerk, and says that the clerk's duty is to serve the customer, no matter what. She says that she needs a bright and hard-working person who'll work for minimum wage. John hides his face when Mac says that she could hire one of them. Diane thinks that he means himself and tells him that she'd love to hire him, but that would be breaking Child Labour Laws. Alice raises her hand and Diane asks if she knows someone who would work? Alice suggests herself; Diane says that she's not qualified, but Mac points out that she ~is~ his sister. Diane agrees to give it a try. John thinks it's great that they're both working, then hastily points out that he'd love to work 9 - 5, but simply can't.

At Teens In Transition, Alice tells Bob that she's got a job; he's very excited and keeps saying that it's great for "us" and "we" will love this job. He tells Alice that he'll come in and buy two books to make a great first impression on "our" first day of work.

At home, Diane tells Alice to hurry up or they'll be late for work; Alice comes down wearing a special outfit that she picked out for her first day of work and asks, "Don't I look great?" Diane says yes, then drops some money into the "Bad Thoughts" jar. John comes out of the bedroom and says that he's going to help the family save money by installing solar panels. Diane tells him this is great, then drops some more money into the "Bad Thoughts" jar.

At The Bookworm, Diane tries to teach Alice how to use the cash register without much success; Alice sees a room marked "Employer Only" and Diane explains that it's Corrine's (the owner) private office and that she only comes in to count the money as she's allergic to everything in the store and so has to count the money in a sanitized room. Diane tells Alice that no one ever goes into the office, then begins showing her around the store; Corrine comes in, wearing a white NASA clean suit; Diane introduces Alice who steps forward and puts out her hand to shake. Corrine, in her haste to get away from Alice, backs into a bookmark display and falls over. Diane pushes Alice out of the way and assists Corrine; Alice is shocked that her feminist mother is acting this way. Diane loads Corrine into an office chair and wheels her out of the store, telling Alice that she's on her own for a while.

At home, John and Mac unpack the solar panel.

At The Bookworm, Alice is alone, and upset that she's been abandoned. A customer comes in and Alice ducks below the counter, wishing that he'd leave. He asks where the sci-fi section is; Alice ignores him and continues wishing that he'd just go away. Later on, another customer comes up to the counter with a book, and wants to pay with a credit card. Alice tells her that they don't take that card; they only accept cash. The customer hands over a 20-dollar bill; Alice tells her it has to be exact change, and the customer leaves without buying the book. Bob comes in and loudly announces that he wants to buy two books; the first customer is still there and tells Bob that he thinks Alice is deaf. Bob asks Alice why she's ignoring customers; she tells him that she's alone in the store and he starts freaking out, having a panic attack. Diane returns and Bob is jubilant that "we" survived a crisis.

At home, John and Mac look at the solar panel they've installed; Mac says that it shouldn't be reflecting so much sunlight. Their neighbour, Mr. Mahfouz, tells John to fix it because it's melting butter in his kitchen.

At The Bookworm, Diane serves customers while listening to Corrine complain on the phone; she agrees to do some personal errands for Corrine. Alice, meanwhile, feels that her mother's attention isn't on the store, and that there are shop-lifters; she tackles a guy whom she suspects of shop-lifting and he leaves the store, yelling that Alice is crazy. Diane asks if Alice actually saw him steal something, and Alice has to admit that she didn't, but she was sure that he was a shop-lifter because he has a purse and smells like patchouli; Diane points out that that describes all of their customers. She adds that she knows Alice is upset about having been left alone in the store, and explains that Corrine needed a shoulder to cry on. Alice asks why Diane lets Corrine treat her like a slave?

At home, in the evening, John asks if they can all feel the heat, just as the lights go out. The family is sitting at the table, wrapped in blankets and shivering; John goes into his room. Corrine calls and makes complains some more to Diane then tells her that she has a surprise for her tomorrow at work; Diane tells the family that it might be a promotion from Assistant Manager to Manager. John comes out of his room and says that it's freezing in the house, and he's upset that he didn't install the solar panel correctly, and he's let them all down... them, and the environment.

Later that night, Mac is outside tearing plastic off the solar panel; Alice comes out and says that she couldn't sleep because she's too excited, thinking about the jacket that will soon be hers. She asks what he's doing and Mac explains that their dad didn't remove the manufacturer's protective plastic and that's why the panel wasn't working properly, but he doesn't want his dad to know that he's the one who figured it out. He begins to explain in detail to Alice how solar panels work, but she's fallen asleep in the chair.

At the Thrift Store, Alice goes in and tells the clerk that she's got a job, and she wants him to know that when she buys the jacket, she's going to point to it, sing to it and talk to it every day. He tells her, "you sing to it, you buy it."

At The Bookworm, Alice adds up her hours (four) and tries to figure out how much money she's made so far. Diane blocks the door to Corrine's office so that a curious customer can't get in there. Corrine comes out and tells Diane that she found some dust in there and almost sneezed. Diane asks her about the surprise, and Corrine tells her that she's bought a money counting machine so that now she won't have to touch the money; she wants Diane to go to Terrace and pick it up... now. Diane leaves Alice alone in the store again; Alice can't believe how Corrine is treating her mother, and she's fed up with it, so she fills the office with burning incense and closes the door. Later on, Corrine returns and opens the office door; she's overcome by the incense smoke and runs out, knocking over the bookmark display again, and running out into the traffic in the street.

Later on, Diane returns with the money counting machine; Alice is sitting on the counter reading a book. The phone rings just as Diane comes in; it's Corrine. Diane listens, then hangs up and tells Alice that she knows what Alice did to Corrine's office, then gleefully asks for an exact description of Corrine's face. Alice, in a voice-over, admits that that didn't really happen, and the scene rewinds to Diane hanging up the phone... Diane is angry with Alice and tells her that she could have lost her job, and then the family would be in trouble, as she's the only wage-earner. Alice tries to explain that she was only standing up for her mother because Corrine treats her so badly, but Diane tells her that she's got the best job in town and Corrine is wrapped around her finger. She then fires Alice.

On the street, Alice walks along morosely, and as she gets to the Thrift Store, her bad day gets worse; she sees a customer coming out of the Thrift Store with the jacket that Alice wanted... and the customer's dog is wearing it.

At home, Alice sits outside; Diane joins her, then John and Mac comes out as well. John switches the solar generator on, and the lights come on; he says that the solar panel must have just needed more time to absorb the sunlight. Diane tells them that she asked for a raise after work, but didn't get it, although Corrine did agree to make her the Executive Assistant Manager. She gives Alice her pay cheque for $31.00. Alice asks Diane for a foot massage, telling her that standing around in the bookstore really takes its toll. Diane complies and starts rubbing Alice's foot, then puts her foot up for Alice to massage; Alice looks disgusted, and pokes at her mother's foot half-heartedly with one finger.