When Niles purchases a valuable painting, Frasier starts planning a posh dinner party to celebrate the unveiling. However, Daphne feels that Frasier’s track record for parties is catastrophic and doesn’t want his help. Frasier, of course, is offended and decides not to attend.

While making preparations, Daphne is confident that she has everything under control until Roz’s daughter, Alice, scribbles all over the painting with a crayon. Remaining calm, Daphne orders Roz to take it to an art restorer, then replaces it with one of Alice’s paintings and covers it with a sheet. Suddenly, the kitchen fills with smoke and the dinner entrée game hen is in flames; Daphne panics. Not wanting Niles to find out, she swallows her pride and calls Frasier to come to her rescue.

Guests begin to arrive while Frasier is frantically at work in the kitchen and hiding from Niles; Daphne is busy warding off all the guests who try to uncover the painting. Then to Daphne’s horror, the artist, Mike Shaw, unexpectedly shows up for the celebration. Before formal introductions are made, he disappears upstairs to join Daphne’s mom, Mrs. Moon, to watch the boxing match. Meanwhile, Roz calls Daphne, asking her to stall the dinner because the art restorer is painfully slow.

Martin sneaks in to help Frasier and word spreads that he is Mike Shaw. Meanwhile, Niles discovers Frasier in the kitchen and unfairly blames him for the disastrous evening. The two get into a tug of war and Niles ends up covered in sauce. Martin pulls the sheet off the painting, revealing Alice’s work, and the guests realize that they’ve been had. The evening renders helpless when the chandelier causes the ceiling to fall through, sending Mrs. Moon and Mike Shaw crashing down on her bed, covered in the guests’ coats.