Grace and Nick get excited for the mail, waiting to see if their college acceptance papers have arrived. Nick finds out that he has gotten in. Grace’s envelope is thin and she makes up an excuse to open it later. Martha, happily back as Mayor commissions a portrait of herself, but is disappointed by the first pass at it. Two guests staying at Grey House struggle to connect so Cassie comes up with activities to get them spending time together. Sam welcomes the new interns at the hospital and learns from Adam that one of them may have an issue with compassion.
Frankie Heck (Patricia Heaton) is a superhero. Well, no, not an actual superhero - not unless you count getting her kids out the door for school every morning as a superfeat. Middle-aged, middle class and living in the middle of the country, this harried wife and working mother of three uses her wry wit and sense of humor to try to get her family through each day intact. Frankie has a job selling cars at the town's only surviving car dealer; her husband, Mike (Neil Flynn), is a manager at the local quarry.
Joy Holbrook is an intuitive market researcher in DC who has captured the attention of the account’s CEO and is about to get a sweet promotion, just in time for the holidays. She receives an urgent phone call from home and she rushes back to Crystal Falls, NC to help her Aunt recover from surgery and is reunited with her former crush, Ben. To keep her Aunt focused on healing, Joy volunteers to take Ruby’s place with the town’s legendary baking competition, the “Cookie Crawl,” much to the amusement of Ben who knows Joy has absolutely no idea of the Herculean task before her. Though Joy initially refuses Ben’s attempts to “co-captain,” she begins to soften and let him in, all the while remembering that there truly is no place like home. Starring Danielle Panabaker and Matt Long.
TV personality Brooke Burke visits, Chef Steve Rhee makes tender lamb chops with tzatziki sauce and more in Season 9, Episode 98 of Hallmark Channel's "Home & Family."
