Eldest daughter Fiona runs the chaotic Gallagher household while dad Frank is busy drinking away the family's Giro check. When Fiona meets a handsome stranger, she thinks he's only interested in a one-night stand.

Frank is nowhere to be seen on Giro day and the family starts a manhunt. Frank eventually turns up in Calais. Fiona gets suspicious when she notices that her new man is smoking fancy French cigarettes.

Barman Kev tells a pushy drunken woman that he's already getting married, without telling his girlfriend Veronica first. Elsewhere, Mandy Maguire doesn't take Ian's rejection of her sexual advances very well.

When a small child goes missing from a children's party, Frank turns the crowd into a lynch mob lashing out at anyone who looks a bit different, ice-cream man included. Fiona and Steve find that the missing child is with nine-year-old Debbie.

Frank and Karen hit the road for their driving lesson, although Karen has some extra-curricular lessons on the timetable. Later, the Gallaghers must to find a parent for parents' evening or face a visit from the social services.

Frank hatches a plan to get his hands on maintenance from his ex-wife Monica, even though he's not living with his kids either.