The arrival of lovely Carrie Newman and her mother, Julia, at the Keaton’s home stirred a quiet panic within Alex when Carrie’s unusually direct manner proved unsettling.

When Jeff, Mallory’s boyfriend, returned from college and expressed his desire to become “steady,” she was overjoyed. However, it quickly became clear that he seemed somewhat intimidated by university life, clinging simply to the comfort of…

Alex was consumed with anxiety, awaiting a vital college recommendation from his English teacher and pressed Steven and Elyse to charm Mr. Tedesco at the school’s parents' night. However, Tedesco proved so relentlessly insulting that Elyse,…

Driven by a quiet ambition, Mallory secretly entered a photograph of herself and Elyse into a mother-daughter modeling contest, and she was overjoyed when they won. However, her joy quickly mingled with dismay and a pang of jealousy as the …

Steven’s assistant at the station possessed a remarkable combination of qualities: intelligence, talent, humor, and wit—and she was deeply in love with him. It appeared Steven might be reciprocating her feelings. It soon became clear tha…

As mid-terms approached, Alex began taking diet pills to keep himself going, quickly finding himself increasingly reliant on them each day. Overwhelmed by the pressure of several upcoming exams, Alex persuaded Mallory to acquire some die…

Working as a DJ at the school radio station, Alex began a telephone friendship with caller Lorraine Ferrar, drawn together by their mutual passion for swing music. They arranged to meet, and a unique connection blossomed between them – she …

Steven and Elyse were concerned that Alex, Jennifer’s new softball coach, was being overly demanding; when Jennifer faltered on a jog home, he insisted she perform twenty extra pushups. Alex approached his coaching responsibilities with …

Alex, hardened with cynicism, encountered the spirit of Christmas within a dream, guided through startling glimpses of what was and what might be by the spectral figures of Mallory and Jennifer. While his family reveled in the familiar r…

A wave of gratitude washes over Steven and Elyse as friends arrive for a visit, though they don’t know this gathering will mark a farewell. Richard Bailey, recently separated and often referred to as the "Sunday father," arrives with his…

When he turned eighteen, Alex disregarded his mother’s wishes and slipped away with a group of friends to a nightclub far outside town. To his considerable frustration, Elyse appeared there, visibly angered, and confronted him.

Alex felt a surge of both excitement and frustration as a crucial admissions interview at Princeton University dissolved into chaos. His sister, Mallory, overwhelmed by heartbreak after discovering her boyfriend’s infidelity, seemed to cons…

Elyse found herself stunned by her mother’s imminent divorce and her sudden, unrestrained embrace of single life. A surprising tension arose between them when Elyse felt compelled to intervene, a spark igniting with each interaction.

Alex’s world shifted when his hero, his youthful Uncle Ned, reappeared for a visit—a man brought low by circumstance and yet another professional failure. It was then that Alex saw it: the shadow of a serious drinking problem clinging to th…

Alex feigned enthusiasm for the Equal Rights Amendment, hoping to win the favor of a captivating feminist. His calculated performance quickly spiraled out of control when, accompanying her to a debate, he defended a woman being jeered from …

When Mallory began to worry she would lose her boyfriend if she didn’t concede to his wishes for a more “adult” romance, she turned to Alex for guidance. Sixteen-year-old Mallory and eighteen-year-old Rick appeared to share a unique conn…

Alex was courting trouble when he invited two young women to the senior prom, crafting an elaborate plan to ensure each of the unsuspecting girls had a night they wouldn’t forget. Prom chairman Alex was already looking forward to attendi…

With a thrill of hope for rekindling her folk-singing career at a neighborhood nightclub, Elyse encountered the doubts of Alex and Mallory, as well as an audience unfamiliar with the music of the sixties.

When Alex’s friend Skippy learns that he is adopted, Alex steps in to help him navigate the unsettling revelation, joining the anxious young man for a poignant encounter with his birth mother.

Alex held such unwavering certainty about being named valedictorian that the possibility of losing to anyone—particularly to Rachel, with whom a tender romance was blossoming—became almost unbearable. When she earned the distinction, his co…

Lying in the hospital bed, waiting for her tonsillectomy, Jennifer was gripped by a sudden fear that she might never see her family again. As she wrote in her diary, memories surfaced – moments of regret and past hurts involving each of the…

Securing a position with a leading architectural firm should have been a triumph for Elyse, but the demands of the job soon began to weigh heavily on her, both at work and within her home life. A desire for broader experience had driven …