Grandma Lucille and Grandpa Bernie are leaving after visiting the Lorrianes. Lucille has forgotten her hat, so Martha retrieves it, but Lucille becomes grumpy when Martha bends on the hat, drools on it, and knocks the flowers off. The grandparents leave, leaving Martha sad because she's made Grandma Lucille unhappy numerous times in the past — such as when she got mud on her clothes and swallowed her earring when it fell in the soup. Helen reassures Martha that those were accidents, but that Martha could make it up to Grandma Lucille by doing something nice on her birthday.
Martha tries writing a birthday card by drawing on the front and having Truman write a message. However, she is bad at drawing (she tried to draw with pawprints), she used mud, which Helen points out is too messy, and she had him write that she was turning a hundred, when she wasn't. Helen suggests getting Lucille a gift instead, and advises her to think of something she (Martha) would like, so Martha digs an expired apple out of the garbage and shows it to Grandpa Bernie. However, he doesn't think Grandma Lucille would like it and advises her to think of something a person would like.
Martha buys some bacon from Carl, reasoning that both dogs and people like it, but (after convincing Skits he can't have any) Mariella tells her that Lucille doesn't like bacon. Just as Martha is about to give up hope, she sees Skits spit out the flowers from Grandma Lucille's hat, inspiring her to give Lucille flowers.
The Lorraine dogs pick some flowers from the park, but within the five days between that and the birthday, they wilt. While the Lorraines and Skits go to visit Lucille and Bernie, Martha leaves to get some more flowers, putting a handkerchief in the basket as well. After picking them, she boards a bus (luckily, the driver knows her, and knows who Lucille is) and gets into a conversation with a chatty old man, who owned a schnauzer who ran away. She cheers him up by giving him a flower, but then a little girl wants one too, and she eventually gives flowers to everyone on the bus.
Luckily, she still has eight flowers left, and she walks off, but when she sees a man giving away free hamburgers, she's in two minds. She eventually ends up eating some, but unfortunately, birds steal the flowers. Fortunately, there is one left, and she delivers it to Lucille (in the rain), but when she arrives, the petals blow off it in the wind. She explains what happened, then cries.
Grandma Lucille reassures Martha and states that she has hay fever anyway, which doesn't reassure Martha. However, Lucille is glad that Martha went through so much trouble and awards her with cake. She is also pleased to find the handkerchief, which was hers all along, and Martha takes a nap on the couch. Despite her paws being dirty, Lucille doesn't mind and plans to replace the upholstery. Then, the grandparents serve up more desserts.
This episode provides examples of
- Ageless Birthday Episode: It's Lucille's birthday, but we never find out her age; she's just elderly, but younger than a hundred.
- And Your Reward Is Edible: Lucille thanks Martha with cake.
- Ate It All: Implied. Martha's seen with many burger wrappers, but it's unclear if she ate all the free burgers, or just a lot of them.
- Chewing the Scenery: Grandma Lucille dramatically puts her hand on her forehead upon realising she forgot her hat.
- Chekhov's Gun: The flowers that Martha accidentally knocks off Lucille's hat later inspire her to give her flowers.
- Crying Critters: Martha cries after explaining how her plan to deliver the flowers failed.
- Cue the Rain: Downplayed. It rains towards the end of Martha's run of bad luck, but the rain doesn't affect Martha very much.
- Does Not Like Spam: Grandma Lucille dislikes bacon.
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: On Lucille's birthday, Martha chases a squirrel up a tree.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Martha is inspired to give Lucille flowers after seeing Skits spit out the flowers from her hat, and calls him a genius.
- Exploding Calendar: The five days that pass between the Lorraine dogs picking the flowers and the birthday are illustrated with pawprints marking the days on the calendar.
- Food Coma: Zigzagged. Martha takes a nap after eating some cake, but it's hard to tell if she's tired from the food, or simply from working hard all day.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Played with. Martha once ate Grandma Lucille's earring, thinking it was an "O", but when she found out, she felt guilty instead of disgusted.
- Lost Pet Grievance: While she didn't die (she just ran away), the old man misses his schnauzer and cries over her absence.
- Mistaken Age: Martha mistakenly thinks Lucille is turning 100 years old, and she's apparently bad at determining humans' ages in general.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Martha feels very guilty for making Grandma Lucille unhappy several times.
- Plot Allergy: Grandma Lucille has pollen allergies.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Martha manages to save one flower and give it to Lucille, only for A.) the wind to blow the petals off, and B.) Lucille to reveal that she's allergic to pollen anyway. Coincidentally, the story involves a literal dog.
- Silent Treatment: Martha fears that Grandma Lucille won't speak to her for two weeks after finding out about the latter's allergies.
- Tempting Fate: Martha says she'll only have one hamburger, but then ends up eating, if not all of them, at least a lot.
- Tropey, Come Home: The old man's schnauzer ran away for no reason and is still unaccounted for.
- Unexpected Kindness: Not only is Lucille not mad at Martha after the flower incident, she even thanks her by giving her cake.
- Worm in an Apple: The expired apple that Martha plans on giving to Lucille has a worm in it. When Bernie says that he doesn't think she'd like it, Martha asks if he noticed the worm.Bernie: (bemused) "I... noticed it."
