Life Goes On

In the series premiere, Charles "Corky" Thatcher tries to mainstream in a regular high school with his sister, Becca. But his first few days in Grade 9 take a serious turn when he is accused of cheating off of an exam.

Encouraged by Rona Liberman, Corky runs for freshman class president with the help of smart, but very unpopular classmate, Lester. Thinking that Rona likes him, Corky doesn't know he was only nominated by her as a joke.

Corky gets his first babysitting job. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned when classmates Tyler and Russo show uninvited up at the house where he is watching young Billy Graber.

Libby has a chance for a comeback, of sorts: at the community college's "Autumn Follies". Meanwhile, Corky is having trouble in math class but doesn't want to take arithmetic tutoring with kids 10 years younger than himself.

Becca falls in love with Gabe, the bad-boy lead singer of a garage band who encourages her to stay out past her curfew which resorts Becca getting into trouble with her parents.

Drew sets up Paige with a charmer named Larry whose head is in the clouds; unfortunately his sense of responsibility seems to be mired in quicksand.

When Paige's actress mother comes to town, mother and daughter have a great time together. But like many of their visits, this is another full of big promises that will never come true.

Just as Drew begins a construction project on sacred Native American soil, the spirit of a long-gone brave appears to Corky.

Corky tries out for the football team. But when the coach hits a student, one of his former players, and all the team stands up for the coach except Corky who is compelled to tell the truth.

A frustrated Drew decides to quit his construction job and wants go into the restaurant business. Later, he joins Libby in counseling a couple whose newborn daughter has Down Syndrome.

Paige goes to work for a divorced veterinarian who is very kind with suffering animals but kind of insufferable with humans. Meanwhile, Becca videotapes a hectic day in the life of her working mother.

Becca and Corky are paired off with other students who must pretend to be engaged for a week to investigate issues of marriage and family life. Meanwhile, Libby's feuding parents hole up at the Thatcher residence.

At the high school football reunion, Drew finally makes peace with his best friend after a ten-year riff. Meanwhile, Paige and Becca each find themselves pitted between two vying for their affections.

Drew's younger brother Richard, a lovable family black sheep, breezes into town. The brothers don't get along, but needless to say, the kids love him; and at a time when Corky begins to wonder who'll look after him when his parents die.

The Special Olympics, a time for warmhearted competition and fun, also bring love to Corky and a challenge to Tyler, whose father won't permit Tyler's brother, Donny (who also has Downs) to participate.

At 18, Corky wants out from under his parents' wings -- even if it just means taking the bus to school. Unfortunately, he ends up hanging out with the rough and tough "bad" crowd at school.

When Becca enters a beauty pageant she ends up competing with Rona Lieberman.

Drew finally gets a chance to own his own restaurant, but it's Corky who brings home the bacon: a huge runaway porker -- later named "Jeffrey" -- that hogs Corky's affections.

Becca writes an article for her school paper but clashes with the faculty adviser. When she discovers an underground paper is published at the school she decides to work there instead. An article she writes has unintended consequences she is forced to make some ethical decisions.

Becca's aging dance teacher Mrs. Doubcha must enter a nursing home.

Drew is certain that his father, who stops by on his way to join the Peace Corps in the Solomon Islands, isn't telling him and the rest of the family the whole story.

As the Spring Fling approaches Becca and Maxie make plans to hang out together rather than attend. When Maxie is invited to the dance by a boy Becca insists that she accept. Eventually Becca is invited - by not just one but two boys - and must decide what she wants to do.

Corky wins a church raffle prize of an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii for the family. But his plans to give Libby and Drew a second honeymoon soon become plagued with many problems.

After a few snafus, everything is going swimmingly for the Thatchers on their Hawaiian vacation with Corky riding with the dolphins and Becca falling for a surfer.

Libby discovers she's expecting again, and the family find themselves fearing the consequences of a pregnancy at her age.

Becca becomes manager of Tyler's band and sets up a gig at the opening of a new mall with a prerequisite of a female singer. Also, Libby is offered a chance to leave the restaurant and return to her old high-pressure, but higher-paying job.

Drew gets funding from Farmer Jack for a new banquet room for the restaurant on the condition that Drew use his son Teddy as a worker. However, this results in jealousy from Corky who tries to help but causes more damage than good.

Halloween scares up bad times for all: Libby and Drew at a party; Corky at the school masquerade; and Becca at home alone.

Libby is forced to take care of everything when Becca, Drew, and Corky all come down with chicken pox. During her illness, Becca draws even closer to Tyler who has broken up with Rona again.

Becca and Maxie have high hopes of getting in with the "mature" crowd which brings their friendship to a low. Elsewhere, Corky and Drew become heroes to a choking woman; only to get Drew slapped with a $25,000 lawsuit.

Corky pictures the family at the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving; Drew, who opens the restaurant for the holiday, meets an old classmate who is homeless.

Tension between Becca and Drew isn't helped by the arrival of Libby's sister Gina and niece Zoe. Unfortunately, an even greater strife between the sisters lands Libby in the hospital.

A fun-loving old buddy brightens up Drew's life, but the man has a shady side. Meanwhile, Becca and Zoe squabble over room sharing.

Corky resolves to enter a 50k bike race despite his father's objections, and makes friends with another biker who is epileptic. Sadly, his happiness turns to heartbreak when his brand-new bicycle gets stolen.

Cupid is shooting arrows at almost everyone: Hans gets a crush on a widowed lady; Paige's motorcycle man revving back to her; Becca hopping for her lab partner; and Jerry developing a crush on Gina.

Gina despairs when nothing she does is right in the eye of her mother, and Corky despairs when his special-ed substitute suddenly takes leave.

Becca organizes a '60s-style protest in support of a record store owner arrested for selling allegedly obscene material. She begins having nightmares of "Thought Police" (censorship cops) storming through Glen Brook.

Becca does a double flip over her gymnastics coach and so does Gina as she goes head over heels for a handyman who is several years her junior.

Corky gets lost and wanders around the mean streets of Chicago leaving Becca and a newly single Tyler to spend a rainy, frustrated evening driving around Chicago looking for him.

Drew confronts his feelings about him and Libby having another child. Meanwhile, Becca makes a muck over an athlete's unearned grades--only to muddy herself.

Drew finds himself having doubts about the restaurant and turns to conversations with his late grandfather for advice.

Corky befriends an older man with Down Syndrome who leads the kind of life Corky would like to live.

Libby cooks up a great ad for a line of diet frozen foods. Elsewhere, Corky and Zoe play Sherlock Holmes and snoop into Tyler's furtive behavior.

Tyler asks Becca to go to the prom; Paige auditions for a play; Libby reconnects with an old flame.

The Thatchers toast the reopening their newly-renovated Glen Brook Grill, but their dreams go up in smoke when the restaurant burns down and Corky finds himself at fault.

While the Thatchers rise from the ashes of the restaurant, Becca prepares to take wing for Paris in a student-exchange program, and Paige and Corky go hunting for jobs.

Corky is nearly swamped when he tries to help Tyler's brother Donny, who also has Down's, mainstream at Marshall High. Meanwhile, Tyler's difficulty adjusting to a repeat of his senior year causes friction between him and Becca.

The new order of Libby as the primary breadwinner and Drew as the homemaker creates new strains in their marriage that scares Corky into thinking that they might divorce.

Becca is about to have her Sweet 16, which might go sour when she wants to take her relationship with Tyler to the next level, to Drew's dismay. Meanwhile, Corky opens his own checking account.

Becca is devastated to learn that Jesse has tested HIV-positive, and during a scuffle between him and Tyler, she blurts out in front of everyone that he has AIDS. When word gets out, new PTA President Libby is pitted in the middle.

Libby's vivacious cousin Gaby breezes in from Sicily like a whirlwind, touching everyone's lives and leaving Libby turning green with envy.

After seeing a B-movie called "Body Snatchers From Venus", Corky imagines that his family is turning into Venusians.

After the Thatcher household is burglarized, suspicions center on Paige's African-American acquaintance, Drew and Libby debate over having a gun.

Corky takes a tumble for the new assistant manager while Becca is torn between Tyler, who isn't over her; and Jesse, who goes in search for the girl who infected him with HIV.

Christmas brings anxieties to all, with Drew reopening the grill; Libby in charge of the holiday show; but most of all to Becca, who fears the worst when Jesse is hospitalized with pneumonia.

The Thatcher home is struck by lightning which results in Corky predicting the future, Arnold the dog running away, Becca with a major static problem in her hair, Drew attracted to another woman, and Paige enchanted by the boss' son.

Jerry's dad shows up at the ad agency and starts pushing him around, so he quits and starts to help "run" the grill, much to Drew's annoyance.

Becca, Libby, and Paige have entered the "man zone" as they tear down a wall in the Thatcher house to reveal another room and the mementos left behind.

An ordinary graffiti-covered wall that the students are ordered to repaint becomes a symbol of the future for Jesse as he waits for his medical test results. Meanwhile, Corky finds an abandoned baby in the theatre.

Jesse gets hired to work as a waiter at Drew's place, but declining patronage forces Drew to let him go; however, later they bond over their love of blues music.

Libby writes a fairy tale about Corky who later enters it in a contest. Libby then gets an offer to get it printed as a children's book, but in a rewritten form.

Inspired by her grandparents' upcoming 50th wedding anniversary, Becca proposes to Jesse, and he agrees, but then they think twice. Meanwhile, Kenny wants Paige to marry him, but Paige isn't so sure.

Romance blossoms between Corky and Amanda, a girl with Albinism-related Down Syndrome, but her parents nip it in the bud. Elsewhere, Jerry sponsors Becca in a need-based scholarship contest.

Drew and Libby leave the kids in charge of the house and they decide to have a party--which is crashed by Tyler and his college frat buddies.

In the aftermath of the car accident, Corky is still rendered mute while Becca grapples with guilt and grief over Tyler's death. Meanwhile, Paige bonds with Michael while they're locked in a refrigerated room.

Paige has a great heart-to-heart with Drew about her upcoming marriage to Kenny, after which Drew takes matters into his own hands and convinces Michael to go after Paige, then behind both their backs he hires Michael's band to play at the wedding. Paige and Kenny break up at the altar and Paige runs off with Michael; meanwhile, Corky proposes to Amanda. Jesse leaves for Arizona with his mom but later returns, saying that Becca is his family now.

A 40-something Becca looks back on the summer of '92 and Jesse's return from Arizona, but their reunion is bittersweet; Becca's avoiding Jesse to be with her new friends who don't know that Jesse is HIV-positive.

Jesse paints a nude painting of Becca, who decides to let it be shown in the Nevermore Bookstore, leading to a nice scandal and endless date proposals on her answering machine.

Corky and Amanda's "trial marriage" gets off to a rocky start--or at least a crunchy one like their macaroni-and-cheese dinner.

Paige fends off an attempted rape by Becca's poetry teacher. Their accounts differ and Becca believes her teacher at first, but later confronts him when his story contains some holes.

Becca and her friends find old World War II letters at the bookstore, which leads to Eric getting cozy with Becca and Jesse doing the same with Jill, a woman from an art gallery.

Amanda's angry parents vow to annul her marriage to Corky and regain custody of her. The newlyweds then run off to a motel, further angering the Swansons and their attorney. Elsewhere, Becca and Jesse are mad at each other.

When Becca goes on a weekend camping trip with Jesse and several classmates, she gets sprayed by a skunk and then knocks over a kerosene lantern. This starts a fire in the barn where they are all staying and forces them to fend for themselves.

Ray nominates Becca--against her wishes--for Homecoming Queen while Goodman nominates a cow in protest of beauty pageants in general. Also, Artie and Paige redo the restaurant with a bovine motif, which leads to a business partnership.

The holidays take on a whole new meaning for Corky, who's celebrating his first Christmas as a married man and now has the wishes of a wife and in-laws to consider.

Paige is delighted to find that she is carrying Michael's baby, and so is the whole family. Then Michael returns and decides that he doesn't want the baby.

Fear befalls Jesse and Becca when gay-bashing skinheads beat up Jesse outside the AIDS hospice leaving Becca with his blood on her hands after the beating.

In her quest to get Becca out of her shell, Goodman takes her and Jesse on a double date. Meanwhile, Grandma Teresa stays overnight at the Thatchers' after her husband breaks their furnace.

Shortly after his 18th birthday, a feverish Jesse collapses in extreme pain at school and is rushed to the hospital, where he dreams of Becca. When he wakes up, he finds that his AIDS-Related Complex has progressed to AIDS.

Jesse's insurance runs out and he gets transferred to County Hospital where he nearly dies of AIDS-related cardiac arrest; Becca discovers a haunting self-portrait of Jesse's that he doesn't remember painting.

A hospitalised Jesse is challenged to fight his disease by an irrepressible AIDS patient who refuses to passively accept his condition.

Becca and Jesse go to see the ocean when Jesse says that it's something that he wants to do, but jealousy of Ray, who's been seeing Becca lately, dampens the outing for him.

In the series finale, Becca, now about 27, tells her son a story about what happened after she graduated from high school. Corky does not graduate but he says "I'll be back"; while Jesse leaves for Europe, breaking Becca's heart, but he returns four years later.