After his son John dies, retired widower Gus Witherspoon (
Wilford Brimley) invites his daughter-in-law Jessie (
Deidre Hall) and her three children to move to
Los Angeles and live with him until Jessie gets back on her feet financially. Despite protests from her children, fifteen-year-old Kris (
Shannen Doherty); twelve-year-old David (
Chad Allen); and eight-year-old Molly (Keri Houlihan) they, Jessie, and their basset hound Arthur leave
Fort Wayne, Indiana, to start a new life in California. As they settle in with Gus, they realize just how difficult he can be to live with. The majority of the plots each week centers on the conflicts which tend to arise when an extended family must live together in the same house. As man of the house, Gus imposes rules on his three grandkids the same way he had raised John (and also John's brother Ben, who is seen in a two part episode); ultimately, however, he learns ways of conveying lessons to the kids without being gruff. Jessie and the kids eventually learn that beneath Gus' stern facade is a wise man, well versed in the ways of the world, who cares about them very much. Each of the episode's five acts (before the commercial break) ends with a freeze frame shot which then occupies one of several rooms in an abstract rendering of a house figure. As the episode unfolds, more rooms are filled until finally—when the dilemma has been resolved—the final piece is put in place, completing the house. John Witherspoon (played by
Patrick Duffy) is seen in one episode and in the occasional flashback. == Cast ==