Brendan complains of a back ache and a "wobbly tummy". He and Molly discuss baby names and she begins to feel a fluttering in her womb -- Molly teases Brendan that he's suffering a phantom pregnancy. Young Andy Collins trains Timestep, a racehorse, at the track before school. Terence talks to Shirley about Sophie badgering him about all her social causes. Andy's mother visits Terence for a checkup. Her edema is not clearing up and she is still retaining too much fluid. He advises her to cut out salt. When Andy arrives home from the track before heading off to school, he surrepticiously disposes of his breakfast rather than eating it.

Marta recommends that Terence take Sophie to the pony club as a distraction. He can't, because of his allergies, and Marta is reluctant to return to the horse world. Frank has found Bridge partners for him and Shirley -- Garth and Nerida. Shirley put the loose change ($3.42) from Frank's dresser into her pin jar and he asks for it back. He flees after Shirl threatens him with bodily harm. Sophie drops by the hospital in the afternoon, supposedly to see her father but he's not at the hospital. Brendan stops by to talk to Marta and it's obvious that Sophie has a school girl crush on him. Marta asks Sophie to go riding with her and she agrees. Terence is puzzled by Mrs. Collins' resistence to treatment...verything was going well but suddenly started getting worse. He asks Simon to double check his steps for him. Vicky treats Doris for mastitis. Molly tries to sound matter-of-fact about selling the piglets but Vicky is not amused. Andy idolizes Mel, a older jockey. Mel hardly eats and smokes. Andy is determined to keep his weight down too and takes pills to do so. Mrs. Collins isn't doing so well and collapses shortly after Andy returns home.

Mrs. Collins is hospitalized. Andy doesn't want to leave her but she insists. Terence is sure that the Lacex he's been giving her isn't working so they decide to double the dose. Terence asks Sophie about Andy later that night. She tells him that Andy always looks like he's ready to keel over. Sophie tries to convince him to come to the pony club with her and Marta (with the stress on the "Marta", of course). Brendan brings up the name "Sophie" as a possibility for the new baby. Mel has wrapped himself in plastic to sweat off a few pounds and Andy is amazed. Simon offers to pay for Doris' vet bill and Vicky teases him about it. Andy arrives home, hungry, but Mel's voice ("Make the weight") is echoing in his head. He takes a couple of pills instead and sits down to his homework...he falls asleep at the table. Mrs. Collins has made an amazing recovery at the hospital. Terence wants to look at the tablets she's been taking. He sends Brendan around to get them. Marta and Sophie talk to Andy at the pony club and remark to each other that he is so thin. Shirley and Vicky enjoy listening to the races on the radio. They win $10 and Shirley asks Vicky to go place another bet for her at the TAB. Frank is shocked and determined to teach her the value of watching your money. Terence and Simon discover that most of Mrs. Collins' "pills" are in fact peppermints. Andy is the only one who could have done it and they are worried. On the way back from the trail ride, Andy gets dizzy and falls off his horse at Marta's feet. He insists he's fine. Frank and Shirl's new Bridge partners turn up for a quick visit...they are a rather odd couple (can you say "swingers"?) and are thrilled that they can get started right away with Shirley and Vicky (Frank has to work). No one else quite clues in to why they're really there, though.

Marta feeds Andy a full meal and he eats it like he's starved. After Marta and Sophie leaves, he dumps the rest of the food and goes searching for the pills. Then he makes himself vomit up what he just ate. Simon arrives at the Gilroys and Vicky decides to leave with him. Vicky has obviously sussed the other couple out and is a little concerned at leaving her mother alone with them. Shirley is totally unaware. Sophie stops off at the Jones farm for tea. Andy visits his mother in the hospital and Terence lectures him about the dangers of taking Lacex when not precribed it and depriving his mother of the pills he needs. Terence brings up the possibility of anorexia nervosa but both Andy and his mother deny it.

Mel gets after Andy for taking pills to lose weight. He tells him stories of what jockeys have done over the years to lose weight. At Simon's flat, Terence tells Simon he's sure that Andy will be too tall to be a jockey. Vicky and Simon tell Terence about Shirley's new friends. Frank and Shirley lose the game of Bridge against Garth and Nerida. Garth and Nerida want to move on to other games but Frank and Shirley want a Bridge rematch. When Nerida suggests they "swap" next time, Shirley agrees, thinking that she means Bridge partners. Sophie is considering studying medicine. She keeps rabbiting on and on about Brendan (funny how Molly is just an inconsequential extra body). Vicky drops by the pony club the next morning and talks to Mel about Andy. They discover that Andy has taken one of Mel's weight loss stories to heart and buried himself up to the neck in horse manure. He's unconscious.

They rush him to the hospital. Marta calls Terence in to look at Andy but his allergies really play up and she's forced to call Simon in to replace him. Vicky arrives home and Simon is repulsed by the smell wafting off her. He borrows her car, despite the smell. Shirley and Frank bicker about the lost Bridge game. Frank lectures her again about watching their finances.