Plot

Marie and Debra have a fight which could mean the end of their family relationship.

Debra Barone (played by Patricia Heaton) takes offense when Marie accuses her of being rude and the two wind up fighting and not speaking to each other. When Ray tries to make things better by getting each of the women to apologize to the other, he only achieves in making a bad situation even worse.

When Debra is struggling with the kids, Marie barges in with her friends Hilda (Anne Gee Byrd) and Artie (Fred Orenstein) for a knock-knock joke. Marie wanted the twins to tell their joke to her friends. Debra gets angry and yells at her that they are not doing knock-knock joke as she has to take the kids for their bath. Marie takes an offense and gives Debra the silent treatment. Marie comes later to Debra's kitchen to ask for her big spoon back, but instead of talking to Debra, Marie addresses all her comments to Ray. When Debra tries to hand over the big spoon, Marie won't take it, and only accepts it when Ray hands it over to her. After Marie leaves, Debra says that her point is that Marie expects everything to screech to a halt in the house whenever she waltzes in there with her friends to put on the grandma show. Ray wants Debra to apologize to Marie, but she refuses. Debra says that Marie is being childish and passive-aggressive by giving the silent treatment to her.

Marie tells Ray that Hilda was boasting about how close she is with her daughter-in-law, and that they are going to a spa together for the coming Mother's Day weekend. Marie says that she brought Hilda to Debra's house so she could show how close they were too. Marie says that she finds it cruel that Debra cannot tolerate her even for a knock-knock joke. Ray talks to Marie and says that Debra wants to apologize but has a hard time saying anything and Marie should apologize as she is the mature one. Marie is insulted by the suggestions and walks away. Marie gives Debra an apology that is very insulting. She says she should have known that Debra loses complete control of the kids by mid-afternoon and an unannounced visit with guests would have not given her the chance to tidy up her chaotic house. Again, Marie places herself as superior Debra. Debra is insulted with this, and they both give each other the silent treatment.

Mother's Day arrives and both the mothers are at loggerheads. Ray distracts Debra with breakfast in bed, so he can sneak out to wish Mother's Day to Marie. Before he can leave, Robert and Frank come over to Ray's. Meanwhile, Ray, Robert and Frank are confronted by both Debra and Marie to choose sides, placing them in the difficult positions. Marie forces Robert to return with her, but Frank stays at Ray's place. Frank and Ray end up having an argument on behalf of Marie and Debra. Ray says that Debra didn't need to be so snippy and rude to Marie in front of her friends. While Frank says that rude is the only language that Marie actually understands. Frank says that he used to be a gentleman and had to become rude to get through to Marie.

Robert also tries to get the warring factions to reconcile. Ray and Frank make up, but Debra and Marie just walk away. Ray gets Debra a large bouquet of flowers and uses her good mood to try and get her to call. But Debra refuses and the feud continues.