Truman is staying with the Lorraines and listening to an advice show on the radio, but Martha, who is nearby, dislikes the idea of a show where people "tell you what to do". Helen then walks in, holding up two outfits, and asks Martha which one she should wear to the movies with Carolina. Truman and Martha think Helen should just wear her usual, but Helen explains that Carolina is a big believer in trends when it comes to fashion. After Helen pesters Martha into making a decision, she chooses one shirt with another pair of pants.
Helen, now wearing the new outfit, walks up to Carolina, who's listening to the same radio show Truman was listening to. However, Carolina hates the outfit, and four random girls seem to find it comedically ludicrous. Carolina tries to defend Helen's outfit, but all her comments offend and embarrass Helen by boiling down to "just because the outfit is bad doesn't mean she's weird".
Then, the man on the radio show asks for the listeners' opinions on what to do with one's valuables, so Martha talks into the phone and suggests burying them in the backyard, which is what she does. Then, the creator of the show phones up the Lorraines wanting to speak to the caller (Martha) and tells her that her idea is crazy, but a good idea since his grandfather did the same. He then makes her the new host of the show.
After the movie, Carolina wants to give Helen a makeover, but she's grown to like her new outfit. Carolina, however, insists, and suggests showing off her new look at a place called the Hokey Hoedown. Martha starts giving advice on the radio, and despite it being more suited to dogs than humans, they follow it anyway. She suggests chasing sticks instead of going to the gym, jumping up, shaking your "fanny", and kissing to greet company, showing your belly to let people know you're friendly, distrusting cats, eating grass to treat nausea, and circling three times and flopping to fix a lumpy mattress.
Helen asks Mariella if she dresses badly, and Mariella doesn't think so (and neither does Martha), but Helen is unconvinced and goes to Carolina's house. Carolina (who has been following Martha's advice) has Helen put on new clothes, but she hates them, so she takes Helen to a clothing shop. Owing to Martha's advice, dog collars are trending. Helen doesn't like them, but Carolina says that fashion is about popularity, not one's own opinion. Then, she takes out some dog biscuits, which Martha suggested eating instead of brushing one's teeth.
On the day of the hoedown, Helen doesn't want to go, thinking all her clothes look "dorky". However, TD thinks that she shouldn't care about her clothes, and even if she ends up being publicly humiliated, she shouldn't let it get her down.
Thus, Helen decides to go to the hoedown anyway, in her usual garb, and finds everybody their following Martha's advice and acting like dogs. Then Carolina shows up dressed like Helen, revealing that Helen's outfit is now trendy. Martha appears onstage, surprising everyone that she's a talking dog.
This episode provides examples of
- Animal Jingoism: One of Martha's pieces of advice is "cats - not to be trusted".
- Animals See in Monochrome: Zigzagged. Truman thinks that dogs can't see colours, and Martha doesn't know what a colour even is, but it could just mean that word isn't in her vocabulary.
- Aside Glance: Martha winks at the viewer at the end.
- Bait-and-Switch: The creator of the radio show says that Martha's idea of burying valuables in the yard is crazy, suggesting he dislikes it, but he does like it; he thinks it's crazy in a good way, and his grandfather did it too.
- Be Yourself: Helen, due to Carolina's snobbiness and insistence on fitting in, becomes insecure about her clothes, but then learns to just wear what she wants to.
- Blatant Lies: Carolina denies groaning even though Helen clearly heard her.
- Dramatic Irony: Carolina initially doesn't realise Martha can talk and thinks the radio show host is a human.
- Extreme Omnivore: Invoked. Martha suggests eating grass to treat nausea.
- Facepalm: Carolina groans dramatically and puts her palm to her face when Helen tries on a baggy outfit.
- Faint in Shock: Carolina apparently passes out when she realises she's been following Martha's advice.
- Innocently Insensitive: Carolina genuinely thinks that she's defending her younger cousin from the snobby girls, but her comments are "Just because she dresses weird doesn't mean she's weird!", "Just because she looks like she got dressed with a blindfold on doesn't mean she couldn't be fashionable if she wanted!" and "Just because it looks like her closet threw up on her..."
- Messy Hair: Due to Martha suggesting that no one brush their hair, Carolina and several other girls are seen with unkempt hair.
- Platonic Kissing: Martha suggests kissing guests when they come over.
- Shaking the Rump: Martha's advice for greeting company is "Jump up! Shake your fanny!".
- Slapstick:
- When Grandma Lucille follows Martha's advice and flops down on her bed, it sends Grandpa Bernie flying right out of bed.
- When two boys try to play fetch, one of them gets hit in the face with the frisbee.
- You Can Talk?: Zigzagged. When the crowd finds out that the radio show host is a talking dog, some of them gasp, Carolina doesn't bat an eye (she's more worried about having followed the advice of a dog) and her boss is initially shocked, but then shrugs and says, "What the heck?".
