Sheriff Andy Taylor invites Aunt Bee to stay and help raise his 6-year-old son Opie when his housekeeper, Rose, leaves to get married. Opie objects to the change.
A state police captain errs in not utilizing Sheriff Taylor's intimate knowledge of the area and its people when issuing a dragnet for an escaped criminal.
A problem with ethics soon puts a lovely new lady pharmacist on the town's black list over withholding pills from a senior citizen simply because she has no prescription for her regular medication.
Andy overthinks his asking Ellie to the church dance (prompted by her uncle Fred) into believing they've tricked him aboard the fast track to matrimony, for which he takes steps to derail.
Andy lectures Opie on the value of keeping one's promise then later asks him to break it to reveal the identity of the runaway kid he just met and befriended, leaving Opie confused.
To boost his dejected deputy's confidence, Sheriff Taylor concocts a phony robbery, only to have Deputy Fife arrest a man for a crime that never happened.
Pride in what other people think presents itself to Andy two-fold when he hears that Opie gave only a measly three cents to a school charity fund, and when a two-years-dead husband walks up to say hello.
Crotchety old businessman Ben Weaver wants moonshiner Sam Muggins locked up for Christmas but, after seeing the holiday spirit in Andy's jail, he tries to be arrested himself.