St. Boniface Vikings (Part 1)

Moaning Lisa

The episode starts with a sad staring at herself in the bathroom mirror while Nolan pounds on the door waiting for his turn. Later in the kitchen, before going to work, Nolan searches for his keys, while Kevin and Lisa eat breakfast before school. Lisa finds the keys still in the front door. Marva Lynn has only two cupcakes for Nolan, Kevin and Lisa, however Nolan has leave for work. Her depression causes her to not show any effort in band practice, in lunch during a food fight, and in the gym. After school in the living room, Nolan and his cousins Paul, Grady, Ed and Fran were playing poker as Marva Lynn shows Nolan a note from school about Lisa.

The note is a progress report from the principal informing Nolan and Marva Lynn that Lisa was too sad to play dodge ball at school. Nolan attempts to discover the cause of Lisa's sadness and she tells him she wonders if the world would be any different if she didn't exist. When Nolan clearly can't come up with a good quick answer, Marva Lynn tells Lisa to take a hot bath and Nolan tells Kevin to vacuum the floor. When Lisa is done with her bath she walks into the living room where Kevin is still vacuuming and is not happy about it. Marla Lynn sits by herself on the couch watching Kevin and Lisa. In an effort to see who Marla Lynn likes more both Kevin and Lisa coax her to each other, instead Marla Lynn chooses the TV. Later Nolan and his cousins were still playing poker, Nolan blames the loss on Lisa's loud saxophone playing. Nolan goes up to Lisa's room to yell at her, but accidentally makes her cry as he apologizes for yelling at her. Lisa agrees to just practice on playing the notes without blowing into the saxophone. After Nolan leaves the room, Lisa hears a saxophone playing off in the distance outside her window and leaves the house to go find the source. Lisa walks through the town at nighttime and discovers a man playing a saxophone alone on a bridge overpass.

Back at the Smith house, everyone is asleep and Marva Lynn dreams about her childhood. In the dream Marva Lynn is a sad little girl and before going out to play her mother tells her to make sure she smiles. Nolan also has a dream that he is trapped inside at the hole as Paul, Grady, Ed and Fran attacks him and he wakes up screaming from his nightmare. Marva Lynn expresses her concern with Lisa's sadness to Nolan. Meanwhile, Lisa is jamming with the man who introduces himself as Lionel Murphy. Lisa and Lionel play the blues together, and he tells Lisa he plays at a club called the Jazz Hole when a worried Marva Lynn, after realizing Lisa is gone, shows up to bring her home.

Cut to Nolan, he was sitting in the bench with his cousins and seeks advice from Howie, a cocky young expert likes to play candy, but Nolan says no, then confronted by Howie's mother who scolds Howie for spending too much time outside and then scolding Nolan, and they leaved.

Lisa was at the band practice, had a recital with other classmates and Marva Lynn cheers all the time. Nolan still works hard with high school football players, but Paul, Grady, Ed and Fran were still coaching.

Cut to the club, The Jazz Hole, where the family listens to Lionel play a blues song written by Lisa.