After Martha explains the vocabulary, Helen, Alice, T.D., Truman, and Martha are taking a walk on the last day of school. Most of them are looking forward to summer, but Truman is not keen. Then, Helen mentions a firework party is coming up, scaring Martha, who is afraid of fireworks. They then come across Mrs. Demson, who has petitions to ban all kinds of things, such as rubber ducks and ice cream. Martha also notices that fireworks are one of the things she wants banned. That night, Mrs. Demson comes over to the Lorraine house with the petitions, but Mariella says no to all of them.
The next day, Martha asks Mrs. Demson about her firework petition, accompanied by a pack of dogs, but Mrs. Demson says dogs can't sign it and scares them away by threatening to call the pound. Martha then starts convincing humans to sign the firework petition, and Mrs. Demson decides to make Martha accompany her as she tries to get people to sign it.
That night, Helen invites Martha to a baseball game with her friends, but Martha says she has "things to do" the next day. The next day, Mrs. Demson suggests various ideas for advertising the petition, but Martha declines them. When Helen, T.D., Alice, and Truman walk up, Martha hides. The kids don't see her, but they do find out that Mrs. Demson has an assistant, who she calls Magda.
Then, she and Mrs. Demson keep getting signatures, but Martha continues to hide whenever one of her human friends crops up. Soon, they only need one more signature, but the only available house is the Lorraine house. Since Martha doesn't want the Lorraines to find out about this, and only humans are allowed to sign petitions, Martha gets Mrs. Demson to sign for her in front of a lawyer by pretending to be an old lady who can't write due to arthritis. When the fireworks are cancelled, Helen, Alice, T.D., and Truman think that this has "ruined [their] summer" and blame Mrs. Demson and her assistant "Magda". End of part one.
Part two starts with Helen and T.D. sad about the lack of fireworks. They wonder who "Magda" is, then Mrs. Demson pops over. She has a bone for Martha, which she gives to Helen and leaves, confusing Helen. Then, she and T.D. realise that Martha may have been helping Mrs. Demson, since they put two and two together (the "assistant"'s name started with M and ended with A, Mrs. Demson called her hairy and claimed she could fit under her table, and Mrs. Demson gave Martha a gift).
Helen and T.D. confront Martha, who admits she did it, but Helen swears to find a way to keep the dogs happy while still allowing the fireworks. She, T.D., and Alice then decide to make a new petition to ban anything that bans "fun" and try to get Truman to sign it. However, he worries that would ban Martha, since she banned fireworks, which he agrees are "fun". Later, he realises that they also consider Martha fun, so banning her means they've banned themselves. Thus, the kids try to start again, with Truman joining in.
Martha tries to get Mrs. Demson to help her revoke her signature, but she refuses. When Martha comes home, she finds Helen and her friends arguing on how to phrase their petition, though they all agree that it should involve those who are scared of fireworks having a place to hide. Upon realising that dogs can't sign petitions, Martha then gets an idea: just before the ban is written into law, Martha reveals herself to be a dog, meaning that her signature didn't count and thus fireworks can't be banned.
Thus, the firework show happens, and the dogs and Mrs. Demson party in the basement, with the Lorraine parents there to keep them company, plus O.G. and Janice, Mrs. Parkington, Ronald, and Polly.
This episode provides examples of
- Accidental Misnaming: Mrs. Demson thinks Mariella's name is Mary Ellen and Martha's name is Magda or Marla.
- And Your Reward Is Edible: Mrs. Demson rewards Martha for her help with a bone.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Mrs. Demson gets Mariella's name wrong. When Mariella says, "It's Mariella", Mrs. Demson thinks Mariella's talking about her and says, "No; it's Yuna, dear. Yuna Demson."
- When Martha says dogs have "causes", Helen echoes back, "Causes?", surprised at the idea. Martha thinks Helen doesn't know what a cause is.
- When Martha corrects Mrs. Demson that her name is Martha not Magda, Mrs. Demson thinks she's trying to change it.
- Mrs. Demson wants Martha to hold a picket sign, not considering the idea that she has no hands.
- Continuity Nod: Martha wears her same old lady disguise from "Martha Calling".
- Dramatic Irony:
- Helen, not knowing that Martha has teamed up with Mrs. Demson, says, "It's not like you're Mrs. Demson with all her petitions, are you?".
- The kids initially don't know Martha is Mrs. Demson's assistant, so they wonder who "Magda" is.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Martha gets the idea of revealing her signature as invalid when Helen tells her dogs can't sign petitions.
- Flashback: When Martha hears about the fireworks, we see a past scene of her and other dogs hiding from them in fear.
- Got Me Doing It: After Mrs. Demson thinks Martha's name is Marla, Helen accidentally calls Martha that.
- Happy Dance: Mrs. Demson and Martha dance once the firework ban is implemented.
- Happy Rain: Mrs. Demson says she'd like it if it rained all summer.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Bored without any fireworks to look forward to, Helen and T.D. take to looking at the ground.
- Insane Troll Logic: T.D. thinks that people should always listen to their own dogs, but not necessarily other people's.
- Loud Gulp: Martha gulps when she sees that the kids are angry about the fireworks being banned.
- Mirthless Laughter: Martha chuckles nervously at one point.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Martha greatly regrets helping Mrs. Demson once it makes her friends unhappy.
- Named in the Sequel: Mrs. Demson's first name is revealed to be Yuna.
- No Animals Allowed: Martha isn't allowed in the supermarket due to a "no pets" sign.
- Obfuscating Disability: Martha pretends to be an old woman with arthritis who uses a wheelchair.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Helen immediately becomes suspicious when cranky Mrs. Demson gives a gift to Martha.
- Pet the Dog: An example involving an actual dog — Mrs. Demson may be a grumpy old woman, but she has the decency to thank Martha with a bone.
- Slapstick: Truman falls out the window of a playhouse.
- Stock Animal Diet: Mrs. Demson offers a bone to Martha.
- Time Travel: Discussed when T.D. wants to invent time travel so he can see the fireworks every night.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Martha, Skits, Burt, Bob, Slappy, Leon, Francois, John, Pops, Wally, and several other dogs are revealed to be afraid of fireworks.
