- Barney and Floyd are held hostage in a cabin by three escaped women convicts.
- Floyd and Barney are on a fishing trip just outside of Mayberry. Set to head home, they realize Floyd's car is out of gas so they search for some at the nearest cabin by the lake. That cabin just so happens to be where three female escape convicts have taken shelter. Once inside the cabin, the convicts get Barney's gun and bullet away from him and hold Barney and Floyd hostage.—burvegas-1
- A large prison somewhere in North Carolina is on high alert, with alarms and searchlights going all over the place - someone has escaped. The guards search all about but cannot find them. In the nearby woods, it's revealed that the escapees are actually three female inmates, led by a tough, scarred former gang member named Big Maude Tyler. The other two inmates are Jalene "Naomi" Connors, who was convicted for domestic violence against her husband, and Sally - last name unknown - a vague-minded former floozy. They travel through the mountains, searching for someplace to use as a hideout until the police give up the manhunt.
In Mayberry, the next morning, a news bulletin tells Andy of the escape, and the details and descriptions of the three convicts. He regrets aloud that Barney is off-duty and out fishing with Floyd because the two of them could help in the manhunt otherwise. What Andy does not know is that Barney and Floyd never made it to the fishing hole - instead, they took a wrong turn and are now hopelessly lost in the mountains. To make matters worse, the car has run out of gas. Floyd complains incessantly, in his passive-aggressive way, about their plight, until Barney has enough and tells him to shut up. They hike through the woods, seeking a cabin or house where they might borrow some gas; however, before leaving, Barney changes out of his fishing duds back into his uniform, just in case they wind up having to hitchhike.
Maude, Naomi and Sally have found a cabin that appears to be abandoned, and set up camp inside. Unbeknownst to them, the Cabin belongs to Charlie O'Malley, a wealthy Mayberry resident who is currently on a business trip to Detroit. Barney and Andy know O'Malley personally, and Barney also knows the cabin. When he sees it in the distance and recognizes it, he leads Floyd up there, telling him of how O'Malley inherited his money from the Jensen Orthopedic Loafer company his father-in-law started, which fascinates Floyd and makes him nervous about asking a favor from a rich man. Barney, however, has no such inhibitions and marches straight to the cabin and starts calling to O'Malley to let them in.
Inside, the three women see Barney's uniform and panic. They try to hide and stay silent, but the smoke from the chimney has already given them away. Maude tries to shout "Nobody's here," which of course alerts Barney that there is a woman in O'Malley's cabin. He explains they're just looking for gas. Relaxing, the three women decide to let Barney and Floyd come in, since they obviously don't know about their escape yet. However, this proves to be a mistake. Barney is sharper-eyed than they give him credit for, and he recognizes ladies' prison uniforms when he sees them. Maude and Naomi, both being powerful women, overpower Barney and Maude steals his gun. Sally catches Floyd as he tries to escape and Floyd, not being very brave, immediately acquiesces to the situation and spills the beans about where Barney's bullet is hidden when threatened. Both men are forced onto the couch at gunpoint by Maude.
While Naomi and Maude stand guard, Sally starts to caress Barney and removes his hat, stating he reminds her of her old boyfriend Al, who she still has feelings for even though he was the one that squealed on her and got her arrested. Fairly quickly, she gets the identity confused and just starts calling Barney by the name Al and treating him as if he really is Al. Floyd, frightened and equally vague-minded, starts calling Barney by the name "Al" too, and the other women decide to follow suit, which irritates Barney considerably. Again threatened by Maude, Floyd also lets slip the fact that people will start looking for Barney if he's not back at the Sherriff's office on time. Maude immediately demands Barney call and give Andy a plausible explanation for his and Floyd staying the night in the mountains. With both Naomi's fists and his own gun in the hands of Maude to contend with, and unwilling to put Floyd in danger, Barney has no choice but to agree.
At the courthouse, Andy picks up the phone and is surprised to hear it's Barney. Barney explains they are staying the night with O'Malley, who invited them to do so when they met up with him while out fishing. Andy expresses surprise at this, as he knows O'Malley is supposed to be in Detroit. With the gun touching his nose, Barney insists O'Malley's already back and Andy believes him. Andy warns him to be on the lookout for three female convicts while he is out in the mountains - seizing the opportunity, Barney tries to quickly blurt out the truth, but Andy has already hung up. Furious, Maude tells Barney she's tempted to let Naomi shoot him in the head for that, to which the man-hating Naomi eagerly assents. However, they don't waste the bullet just yet, and instead settle down to wait out the manhunt.
Sally soon becomes bored, and starts complaining. Naomi, equally bored, tries to goad Floyd into a fight but he just cowers, much to her disgust. Finally, Maude tells them both to relax and put music on. Sally does so, and she and Naomi start rocking to the music. Sally eventually tries to get "Al" to dance with her. Barney has no desire to dance, but Maude threatens him with the gun again and he is forced to do so. Barney is actually a rather good dancer, as it turns out, and Sally becomes more enamored with him and puts on a dreamier song to dance to. This is a mistake. Naomi is reminded of her husband by the tune, and throws a vase in rage, which smashes into Floyd. Angrily, Maude makes Sally shut the music off.
Later, the women discover there is no food in the cabin. Maude has Sally dress in Barney's fishing duds, and gives her and Floyd a shopping list. Floyd is tasked with making sure the food, and Sally, get back to O'Malley's cabin in one piece without any suspicions being aroused - Barney will get a bullet through the head if anything goes wrong. Terrified, Floyd meekly goes with Sally, using O'Malley's gas to refuel the car.
Andy spots Floyd coming out of the grocery store in Mayberry and stops him, much to Floyd's dismay. Sally, seeing Andy coming, warns Floyd not to take any chances. Floyd explains to Andy he's in a hurry, or at least tries to, but he becomes incoherent and Andy misinterprets this, and the sight of a woman in the car, to mean there is a slightly questionable party at O'Malley's, which they didn't want Andy to know about. Amused, he lets Floyd go and he and Sally drive back up to the cabin.
Andy is about to return to the courthouse when the city bus from Detroit comes in and Charlie O'Malley steps off. Andy is completely shocked, but then quickly puts two and two together and realizes what has happened. He and O'Malley head up to the cabin in the squad car as sneakily as they can to see what they can do to rescue Barney and Floyd.
At the Cabin, Barney is run ragged dodging Maude's attempts to dance with him and Naomi's attempts to goad him into a fight. He is saved by Sally and Floyd, who return with the groceries. Maude guards the two hostages while Naomi cooks the hamburgers and Sally goes outside to get water from the well. Andy and O'Malley both hide in the bushes, watching Sally, and Andy hatches a plan. When Sally returns inside, she, Naomi, and Barney argue because Barney wants his hamburger medium rare and Sally, convinced he is "Al", remembers Al ordered all meat well-done. Andy reaches in the open window and snatches the water pail off the counter, dumping it out and replacing it. Naomi goes to get the water, finally, and, discovering the bucket's empty, assumes Sally just forgot to fill it and goes outside to do so herself. As Naomi goes to fill the bucket, O'Malley sneaks up behind her and gags her. Andy handcuffs her and O'Malley wrestles her to the squad car, and Andy goes back to wait for an opportunity to catch the other two.
Inside, the hamburgers start to burn and smoke. Maude quickly runs into the kitchen to save them and demands Sally go out and tell Naomi to hurry up with the water. Sally does so, but can't see Naomi anywhere. While she leans over the porch railing, Andy and O'Malley cuff and gag her and take her to the squad car with Naomi.
Maude goes back to guard Floyd, leaving Barney to wrestle with the hamburgers and clear the room of smoke. Barney spots Andy through the open window and pretends he's singing while he works, so they can have a conversation. Andy indicates all Barney needs to do is find a pretext to get Maude outside but Maude calls Barney to return to the couch before Andy can give him any suggestions.
Barney tries to ask Maude to check on Naomi and Sally but she doesn't see the need. He then tries to ask her to let them go out for fresh air but she doesn't see the need for this either. She goes and puts a new record on the player, and Barney suddenly gets a flash of brilliance. He stands slowly, puts on his most seductive manner, and tells Maude he's changed his mind about dancing with her. Maude is skeptical at first but Barney manages to win her over, convincing her he's started to have feelings for her. They dance together, and during the dance Barney skillfully opens the door and forces her through it. Andy cuffs Maude and Barney together and takes the gun in one swift motion. Maude is furious and tries to flee, but Andy and Barney overpower her. Andy and Barney congratulate each other on a job well done, but the moment is ruined when Floyd barges on the porch in a panicked dither about the ruined hamburgers.
Back at the courthouse, Barney and Andy discuss how Floyd made himself a liability during the whole ordeal, and how civilians need to learn basics of how to conduct themselves in a dangerous situation and not hamper law enforcement. Barney is still proud of how he managed to catch Big Maude, but his pride is short-lived when he discovers the local newspaper decided to falsely paint Floyd the hero of the adventure because it was better news.
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