After inviting newlywed couple Keith Vincent and Olive Sturgess (as Jim and Carol Berke) over for dinner, Donna (Donna Reed) begins to feel Alex (Carl Betz) is taking her for granted; after 15 years of marriage, she asks, "Are we in a rut?" Donna tries to impress Alex with a daring new dress, which startles Mary (Shelley Fabares) and Jeff (Paul Peterson). Alex tells Donna, "You're a woman, you're entitled to your moods," and mentions he liked Donna in a "flowered print" dress, which she can't recall.
When the Stones go out to dinner with older couple Addison Richards and Lillian Bronson, things begin to fall into place. Another very standard storyline. Ms. Reed models several dresses, and looks great in all of them. The old and young married couples are about what you'd expect - when the younger husband remarks that his wife might have put too much mayonnaise in the salad dressing, she cries her eyes out. Obviously, this woman is not prepared for marriage!
*** The Flowered Print Dress (3/25/59) Oscar Rudolph ~ Donna Reed, Carl Betz, Addison Richards
