Sharkey is set to leave on a date but he keeps getting held up by different matters. First, he contends with yet another practical joke by the recruits. Meanwhile, a new machine repairman, Seaman Apodaca (Phillip Simms) has come into Sharkey's command. Lt. Whipple informs Sharkey that Admiral "Iron Bottom" Kearns is coming, and regals him with stories about the admiral. The interruptions lead Sharkey to find an apartment off base. He takes an apartment from the comically scatterbrained Mrs. Finch (elderly character actress Merie Earle, "The Bob Newhart Show", "The Waltons", who was 89 at filming). While awaiting the arrival of his date he finds little has actually changed.
The irony of the episode's title is that it was during filming of this episode that Johnny Carson bust in during the infamous "cigarette box incident".