Grace Under Fire - Season 5 (1997)

Grace arrives home very late from her job in St. Louis and finds the kids still up, the house in disarray, Jean asleep on the sofa and Libby cleaning the kitchen. The next day Grace gets an unexpected work assignment and Libby must cancel her plans to go to the bookstore with Grace. Later they all go to a construction site where a bridge is being built, to see the large tractors. At the site, they're approached by an African American man who Jean thinks is about to mug them, but he's D.C., the owner of the company that's building the bridge. They talk briefly, and when Patrick gets his arm caught in a piece of equipment, D.C. rescues him and gives Grace some grief about working out of town and not being around for her kids. On Sunday night, as Grace is preparing to leave for St. Louis, she realizes it's getting more and more difficult for her to leave her family. When everyone gets up in the morning, Grace is there cooking breakfast. She's quit her job.

Grace is in search of a job and Libby is worried that they're going to be poor again. Russell knows D.C. is looking for an assistant and suggests that he hire Grace, but D.C. says Grace talks too much and would give him attitude. He relents and offers Grace the job. She arrives at work and immediately begins making suggestions. D.C. says he'd like her to do what she was hired for and do it quietly. He's afraid she'll never be able to keep her mouth shut and thinks he'll probably have to fire her before the end of the day. But when D. C. realizes that Grace has saved the company several hundred dollars by effectively dealing with a stubborn delivery man, he says she can hang around for a while. Wade tells Grace that he and Nadine have been fighting over the phone since she's been at her mother's. Grace suggests that he put his feelings in writing, but he misunderstands and sends an angry letter to Nadine. And Grace introduces Wade to Dot, who tells him he needs a haircut.

Wade's back from Colorado and tells Grace that he and Nadine are splitting up. He also tells her he's heard that some kids were partying down by the quarry, and it's possible Quentin may have been there. Libby tells Grace that Quentin has a new girlfriend. When Grace questions Quentin, he volunteers nothing and accuses her of not trusting him. Grace tells Quentin she'll try to back off a bit, but he'll have to meet her halfway. He admits that he and his girlfriend Laurie stopped by the party, but they didn't drink and they're not having sex. Grace is greatly relieved until Russell accidentally reveals that Quentin's been in the pharmacy buying condoms. When Grace confronts Quentin, he's on the defensive and demands his privacy. She tells him she just wants to be there for him and give him the benefit of some life lessons she's learned.

Libby wants to go to Washington on a class trip, but Grace can't afford to send her. A tornado has hit Victory and there has been much destruction: the church steeple blew off, and an armored car from the casino took a direct hit and money flew all over town. After the storm, Quentin finds a cloth bag by the house with two-hundred-thousand-dollars in it. Everyone has an idea about how they could use the money, but Grace makes it clear that they'll be returning it. The casino management calls a press conference to thank the Kellys for returning the money, but when Grace hands over the bag, twenty-thousand -dollars is missing. Grace is interrogated for hours. She's afraid Jimmy took the money, and Wade makes her furious by hinting that maybe she took it herself. But when Grace finds the missing money in the cookie jar, Jean confesses she took the money to help the church rebuild. As Grace returns the rest of the money, she cleverly tells a TV reporter that the casino has offered to pay f

D.C. has a chance to bid on a hotel job for one of the biggest developers in the Midwest. Grace tells him he's going to have to make an extra effort to schmooze the guy and make him feel at ease, even though it isn't D.C.'s style. D.C. tells Grace she should join them for dinner. At dinner with Davis Walsh, the developer, things are a bit awkward, but Davis seems attracted to Grace. Davis is paged and excuses himself, and D.C. tells Grace she should play up to Davis for the sake of their getting the job. Grace immediately learns that it's actually D.C. that Davis is attracted to. When Davis again leave the table, Grace tells D.C. that he's the one who's going to have to do a little flirting. Russell has good feelings about his new relationship with Dot, who has agreed to a second date with him. At dinner with Russell, Dot tells him she likes being with him but wants things to move slowly. Russell agrees, but he's busted when a strolling hypnotist puts him under and he tells the whole r

Libby visits the bridge construction site on a field trip and discovers that the Victory Tree that holds a significant place in the town's history is to be cut down. She's very upset, so Grace suggests she start a letter writing campaign to save the tree. Libby even stages a demonstration at the site, which makes D.C. irate that construction has been halted. He thinks the whole thing is Grace's fault because she's the one who suggested the field trip. Libby's amazed that Grace doesn't share her concern for the tree; but Grace tells her the bridge is important too, both for the town and for their family. A town meeting is called to discuss the fate of the tree. When D.C. tells everyone that the bridge represents thirty- million-dollars in revenue for the town, it's certain that the Victory Tree is doomed, but Grace demands that Libby also be allowed to have her say. Also, Russell has expanded his store and has built a fancy soda fountain. Russell used the town meeting as a chance to plu

Wade shows up with Dan Gabriel, his old commanding officer in Vietnam, who's now a covert operations/demolition expert. Dan and Grace begin a verbal sparring match almost immediately. He's a warrior and a hard-core conservative, and Grace hates everything he stands for. Later, Dan has no trouble winning over Jean, and he talks to Libby about how to use psychological intimidation to defend herself against a bully who put gum in her hair. An angry Grace tells Dan to keep himself and his violent approach to life away from her kids, but their conversation ends in a passionate kiss. Grace is horrified that she's madly attracted to a guy she hates, and it's obvious that Dan's equally attracted. But Dan dives into the river to do some demolition work for D.C. and doesn't come back out. Everyone assumes he's dead, but later, Dan, very much alive, appears at Grace's and tells her he faked his death because he needs to disappear for awhile, but he'll be back to see her.

At the pharmacy, Russell and D.C. get into a disagreement about a watch D.C. tries on that breaks before he has a chance to buy it. Grace runs into Bev, Quentin's girlfriend's mother, at the pharmacy. Bev tells her she's feeling suffocated in her marriage; being rich isn't that great. Grace has a hard time relating to Bev's problems. Grace is at home being driven crazy by Libby's trumpet practicing when Bev comes by and announces she'd like to stay with Grace for a while to get back to her middle class roots. Grace agrees to let her, though Quentin's upset to have to live under the same roof with his girlfriend's mother. It soon becomes clear that Bev is having as much trouble adapting to life at the Kellys as they are having her there. She takes two showers in the morning and depletes all the hot water and uses four towels a day. Grace thinks Bev could solve all her problems with an honest talk with her husband, but Bev disagrees. Grace takes Bev out to a bar to show her how dismal si