Mariella is organising a Thanksgiving party at the Lorraine house. Martha is excited for it because of all the food, but when she tells Helen and Carolina, they are disturbed because Helen's other cousin, Chuck, has dumped worms on the girls before. Martha empathises since she also has a bully relative, in her case a younger brother.
She then tells the story of what her life was like before she came to the pound — she was born in a back alley to a mother who just called her children by numbers and had seven siblings: One (sister), Two (sister), Four (brother, who liked to "sing"), Five (brother, who liked to play in the mud), Six (sister, who was shy), Seven (brother, who was inseparable from Two), and Eight (the mean one). When Six was nearly run over by a truck, Martha (then named Three) barked to get the owner's attention, and said owner drove the whole family to Kazuo's pound.
Martha then misses her mother and siblings, so Helen and Carolina suggest she invite them to the party, and Mariella allows it. The Lorraine dogs go to the pound and Martha asks Kazuo about her family, but he thinks Martha arrived by herself: he remembers finding her as a wet puppy by the side of the road. He remembers that she looked very tired at the time, so perhaps this clouded her memory, but Martha is sure she remembers being taken to the pound with her family.
Then, Pops remembers what happened: the whole family did show up at the pound at once, but Kazuo wasn't working then; his cousin was. Martha's siblings played with the cousin, but Martha herself stayed by her mother's side. Since the woman who drove the truck knew grown dogs were harder to rehome than puppies, she decided to adopt Martha's mother herself, and adopt Martha as well since she didn't want to leave her mother.
Martha's siblings are all on file, so Kazuo tracks them down and their owners agree to take them to the party: One (now named Skipper) belongs to a sailor, Two (now named Cam) and Seven (now named Mack) belong to a trucker, Four (now named Carusoe) belongs to an opera singer, Five (now named Mr. Felix) belongs to a dog groomer and is thus much neater than he was as a puppy, Six (it's unknown what her name is now) has come out of her shell and stars in dog food commercials, and Eight (now named Sarge) is a guard dog at a shop. Then, part one ends with Kazuo calling Martha, revealing that Cam and Mack have found their mother.
Part two beings with Martha, Kazuo, Cam, and Mack in the pound truck, looking for Martha's mother. On the way, it's revealed that they found the mother dog's owner's truck and the property where it is. When they get there, however, they find that the owner (Mrs. Smith) has moved out, but she does own an elderly dog, who did have a daughter that left as a puppy, but the mother thinks the puppy (Martha) ran away.
That night, the guests start arriving, and Carolina and Helen put worms on each other to "practice" for Chuck's behaviour. The next day, Martha's siblings arrive, as does Chuck, but he seems to have mellowed out since Helen and Carolina last saw him. Then, Kazuo arrives with the boy who used to live next door to Mrs. Smith, and he remembers how Martha and her mother got separated: he went to fish when the stream was too high, and she tried to stop him, but got washed down the river, explaining why she was tired and wet when Kazuo found her.
Then, Skits arrives with Martha's mother, having seen the delivery truck and tracked down Mrs. Smith via her employee. Martha shows her mother around and then reunites her with her other children. Thus, everyone (human and dog) enjoys the reunion.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Skipper wears a sailor's hat.
- Adoption Name Change: The puppies were originally named One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight, but got renamed Skipper, Cam, Martha, Carusoe, Felix, (unknown), Mack, and Sarge respectively.
- Angry Guard Dog: Sarge is a growly dog who works as a guard dog in a store.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Sarge was the youngest of the litter, and he often growled at his siblings.
- Call-Back: Back in the first episode, Martha mentions, "I was born in a back alley". This episode explores her puppyhood there.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Martha feels overshadowed by her siblings, Skits remembers that she was once a fire dog ("Fire Dog Martha"), sled dog ("Sled Dog Martha", though she never actually was a sled dog in that episode), radio announcer ("Martha Gives Advice"), telemarketer ("Martha Runs Away"), teacher ("Martha Goes to School"), TV talk show host ("The Martha Show"), and head of a presidential task force ("Martha in the White House").
- When we see Carusoe's owner, she appears to be the same woman who wanted to teach Martha opera in "Martha Sings".
- Does Not Like Spam: Subverted. Carolina says she doesn't want a reunion because of "Uck", which Martha thinks means she doesn't like gravy, but it's actually a nickname for Chuck.
- Early Personality Signs:
- As a puppy, Martha nursed more than her siblings, hinting at her later becoming a Big Eater.
- Carusoe has enjoyed "singing" since he was a puppy.
- Sarge was grumpy as a puppy and is an Angry Guard Dog now.
- Filthy Fun: As a puppy, Felix enjoyed rolling in mud.
- Flashback:
- First we see Chuck putting a worm on a younger Helen and Carolina.
- Then we see Martha and her siblings as puppies in the alley being taken to the pound.
- Then we see how Kazuo found Martha.
- Then we see how Martha's siblings were accepted into the pound and Mrs. Smith adopted Martha and her mother.
- Then we see Martha's mother thinking her daughter ran away.
- Then we see Martha's earliest memories of her mother.
- Then we see how Martha floated down the river.
- Finally, we see how Skits found Martha's mother.
- Happy Dance: Martha dances for joy upon being reunited with her mother.
- Heroic Dog: In one flashback, Martha stops the boy from fishing near a dangerously-high river.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sarge may be an Angry Guard Dog, but even he's elated to see his mother and siblings.
- Malicious Misnaming: Helen and Carolina call Chuck "Uck", because he dropped worms on them.
- Meaningful Name: Skipper is so-named because she belongs to a sailor.
- Missing Child: Martha's mother was bereft when her daughter went missing (down the river, but the mother thought she'd run away).
- Never a Runaway: Martha's mother thought she'd run away, but actually, she'd been washed downstream.
- No Infantile Amnesia: Martha remembers things even from before her eyes opened.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Carolina and Helen freeze up when they realise Chuck is coming to the party.
- In the past, Martha looks scared when she starts floating downstream.
- Old Dog: Martha's mother is elderly.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Martha mentions that one sign Skipper is more special than her is because she wears a hat, despite Martha not usually liking to wear clothes. However, she never said she wanted to wear clothes; just that her mother might think the hat was special.
- Race-Name Basis: Justified when Kazuo first sees Martha and addresses her as "pup", since he didn't know her name.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: This episode establishes that Martha's mother looks exactly how Weaselgraft imagined her in "Bye, Martha". However, he's never seen her, so he'd have no way of knowing that's what she looked like.
- Shrinking Violet: Six was very skittery and timid when she was a puppy.
- Stock Animal Diet: Martha is seen chewing on a bone as a puppy.
- Successful Sibling Syndrome: When Martha finds out that Skipper has her own hat, Cam and Mack have travelled all across America, and her unnamed sister is an actress, Martha fears that her mother will think she's too ordinary in comparison.
- Surprisingly Apropos Music:
- In a flashback, Kazuo listens to a song that defines "memory".
- When he, Martha, Cam, and Mack are searching out Martha's mother, they listen to a song that defines "quest".
- Thanksgiving Episode: As the title would imply, this episode is set around Thanksgiving.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Chuck used to dump worms on Helen and Carolina, but since then, he's become quite polite if a little broody.
- Uncatty Resemblance: Carusoe, who likes to "sing", was adopted by an opera singer.
- Unsuccessful Pet Adoption: Mrs. Smith tried to adopt Martha, but she was washed down the river.
- You Are Number 6: As puppies, Martha and her siblings were named after their birth order.
- You Can Talk?: Zigzagged when the boy is surprised that Martha can talk but his father doesn't seem to be.
