On a set, the characters disagree on what the vocab is about — T.D. thinks it's about construction, while Carolina thinks it's about fashion. Martha states that it's about both. The episode proper starts with Martha taking a nap on the easy-chair, only to be awoken by Mariella vacuuming. She tries to sleep on Jake's bedroom rug instead, but he cries. She goes back into the living room again, but Danny is watching TV and using a noisemaker, so she goes into the kitchen, only to find Helen and a visiting Alice baking and talking. Martha then tries to nap on the porch, but Skits wants to play, so she goes under a tree, only for a thunderstorm to start.
When the cookies Helen and Alice were baking are ready and Skits wants to steal them, T.D. shows up and wonders where Martha is, since she usually steals cookies as well. A wet, sleepy Martha enters, and while Helen dries her, T.D. suggests "think[ing] about things" to help her sleep. He demonstrates, only to fall asleep himself, so the girls, along with Truman who showed up, go into another room.
Later, Martha asks Helen, Alice, and Truman to be quiet if they see her sleeping, but they reply that being quiet for as long as she naps would be asking too much of them. Alice then suggests building Martha a doghouse, and when Martha finds out what that entails, she's onboard with it.
The next morning, Helen's friends start building, with Skits helping to dig the basement. They nearly finish the doghouse, but they forget to build the door, and T.D. and Alice argue over where to put the porch, with him wanting to put it where she wants the pool.
While the kids (except Truman, who is holding the doghouse in place) drink water, Martha suggests making a plan first, and Helen agrees. That night, Alice decides that they'll all come up with a design and have Martha select her favourite. So, they draw (except T.D., who watches television and draws his the next day).
Then, the next day, Carolina shows her dollhouse, saying that they should build a doghouse that looks like that, for guests to look at while Martha sleeps in the house. Truman and Alice have designed a doghouse that has a trampoline, pool, treadmill, and tennis ball launcher, and statues outside. T.D.'s design looks like a haunted castle to scare away other dogs, has a password-protected door, and comes with an underground lab with an alarm in case crime breaks out, and a dog-shaped car. Martha points out that she can't drive, so T.D. offers to drive instead... but Truman points out that he's too young. Helen's design is a large, relatively-normal doghouse, which Martha ends up choosing.
They build it and have a conversation in it, but there's not enough room for Martha with them in there, so she sleeps on the armchair instead.
This episode provides examples of
- Big "SHUT UP!": Martha yells, "QUIET!" to stop T.D. and Alice from arguing.
- Buffy Speak: Helen uses the term "ouchy hot" to describe too-hot cookies.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: When T.D. uses his belt to build the doggie door with, his pants fall down.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Carolina adds a closet to a doghouse (even though dogs don't wear clothes), while Alice wants the porch to be next to the house despite porches, by definition, being attached.
- T.D. offers to build Martha a car, even though she can't drive. He offers to drive instead, but he's too young.
- Cue the Rain: The final unlucky thing to happen to Martha in her quest for a napping spot is for it to suddenly rain.
- Double Standard: Martha finds it unfair that Alice shushed her other friends when T.D. fell asleep, but no one does the same when she sleeps.
- Dramatic Irony: Helen suggests Martha take a nap, without realising that she'd been trying to take one.
- Fantasy Sequence: Martha imagines a hypothetical "best doghouse ever".
- Goofy Print Underwear: T.D. wears hot pink boxers with yellow polka dots.
- Go-to-Sleep Ending: The episode ends with Martha napping on the easy-chair.
- Insomnia Episode: What kickstarts the plot is Martha having trouble sleeping due to the Lorraines' (and Alice's) noise.
- Naked People Are Funny: When Carolina tries to convince T.D. that clothes are more important than buildings, she asks him if he'd rather be homeless or walk around with no clothes.
- Stock Animal Diet: Martha's imaginary doghouse has a lot of bone and steak imagery.
- Urine Trouble: A discussion is implied when Martha asks, "Do I use those statues in the yard to—?", later adding that they're a "pretty good height" for it, but Truman always interrupts with an emphatic "No!" before she can say what she wants to do.
