Mayberry R.F.D.

Andy and Helen are finally getting married and Andy is having his Bachelor party. The couple will honeymoon in Florida and Goober will be acting Sheriff. Opie will be on a camping trip and Aunt Bee is planning to leave Mayberry and live with her sister out-of-state. Sam asks Aunt Bee to move onto the farm with him and Mike, but she says her plans are made. It's the day of the wedding and Barney is best man. The happy couple leave for their honeymoon. Something the Reverend says leads Aunt Bee to change her mind about Sam's offer. But farm life might take some getting used to. Meanwhile, Howard reads a postcard from Andy to Goober and Emmett. Aunt Bee decides farm life isn't for her and Sam takes her large luggage out to the car. After speaking to Mike and looking at family pictures, Aunt Bee decides to overcome her fears and stay at the farm. We see Andy singing to Helen and then Barney is there as well.

The annual Harvest Ball is soon and the men are asking each other who they're going to take. Goober would like to take Millie Swanson, but is having a hard time asking her. Emmett writes a letter to Millie for Goober. Meanwhile, Sam would like to ask Millie to the ball as well. Goober asks Sam to rewrite Emmett's letter and Sam finds out it's to Millie. Sam has to run an errand before he can finish Goober's letter. Millie comes to Sam's office and sees the letter. She is excited because she likes Sam. Millie gets the letter in the mail but is disappointed when she sees it's from Goober. Millie's friend Dorothy is there when she reads the letter and says what a nice guy Goober is. Millie shows up to the ball with Goober. Sam is able to get a dance with Millie and Goober can see she would rather be with Sam. Goober tells Sam what he sensed and says it's OK. Goober leaves and runs into Dorothy and senses she likes him. Sam and Millie see Goober and Dorothy walking off arm in arm.

Sam's cousin, Vince, is coming to visit. He used to be a jockey but now he trains horses. The next day Vince arrives with a horse named Gingersnap. Vince says that the horse has not lived up to its potential as a race horse. He's looking to sell the horse to finance a restaurant he wants to partner in and was hoping Sam could find a buyer. Aunt Bee thinks it's a shame to turn Gingersnap into a saddle horse. Emmett tells Sam that Mr. Bowers might be interested in the horse. But Aunt Bee manages to intentionally ruin the deal. She tells Sam her intuition tells her to put the horse in a race. Sam reluctantly agrees. Aunt Bee sets things up and gets the horse into a race at Morgan Downs. The day of the race, Aunt Bee gives the Jockey a pep talk. After the race starts, Gingersnap is in last position. The horse comes from behind to win. When Vince hears the good news, he decides to keep Gingersnap.

Aunt Bee and Sam prepare for a visit from Andy and Helen and their new baby, Andy Jr. After they arrive, Howard, Goober, and Emmett come by to see the baby. Goober, then Emmett and then Howard, each hint that they would like to be the Godfather. After they find out that Sam is chosen, the men are upset because they all feel they are closer to Andy. Andy notices that the three men have become very cold and distant to him. They're also distant to Sam. Andy suggests having four Godfathers and the men agree. But then the three fight over who will be the spokesman at church. It's the day of the christening and it still hasn't been decided who will be the spokesman. When the Reverend asks for the spokesman, all four men come up. Despite things being very unorthodox, the Reverend smooths things over. Later, Mike wonders why he doesn't have four Godfathers and Sam has to rectify the situation.

Mr. Morelli announces that he will be closing his restaurant due to the lack of customers. He says that everyone is going to Pagano's in Mt. Pilot because they feature a floor show. Howard and Millie offer to help by going to Raleigh to hire an act from Charley Pierce's theatrical agency. They hire a local act known as the Claghorn Brothers. Word spreads and Mr. Morelli is expecting a large crowd. But then the Claghorn Brothers cancel due to a family emergency. Because it's the last minute, Howard can't find another act. Sam used to entertain when he was in the Army and Howard and Millie hope he will help. Sam says that it's been too long since he did that type of entertaining and turns them down. Everyone is now upset with Sam. Sam changes his mind and that night he performs as a song and dance scarecrow.

"The Carolina Pen and Quill", the state literary magazine, sends a letter to Howard. The magazine is initiating a new poetry section for native North Carolina poets. They would like to commission him to write an original poem for the page. Some time passes and everyone is wondering how Howard's poem is coming along. The reality of it is that Howard is suffering from writer's block. Sam comes by Howard's office and reminds him of the deadline for the poem. Now his writer's block gets even worse. After hearing that he isn't eating, Aunt Bee brings Howard some food. But her being around is distracting Howard. Howard's friends start to realize the pressure he is under. Howard goes out to the woods to get some inspiration. Goober comes by and tries to give Howard a pep talk, but Howard just wants him to leave. Later, Howard believes he's a failure and tells this to Sam. Howard winds up writing a poem about failure and it gets published.

Emmett's wife joins a women's lib group.

An encounter group comes to Mayberry

Goober finally opens his new gas station in Mayberry! Everything goes fine and dandy until Howard discovers some old reltics under the gas station- DINOSAUR BONES! He is eager to recover them, but recovering them would mean tearing parts of the road around the gas station, and Goober won't allow it! Howard wants to make a mueseum with these bones, but wants to get all of them, so he sneaks to the gas station in the middle of the night. And he's caught! Gooober almost presses charges! Howard then opens the first natural science muesum ever in Mayberry, but it's a bust, because most of the bones from the dinosaur are still buried. Seeing how upset Howard is, Goober has the other bones recovered and all is once again well in Mayberry.