Carter Deming is a writer and the only current guest at the hotel. He tells Kate that he gets ten times more work done at the hotel than he does in his own home in New York. Uncle Joe lets Kate know that the bank turned down Kate's latest loan request. Kate realizes that she has never been able to make a go of the hotel. Mr. Deming offers to buy the hotel from Kate. Not knowing about the possible deal, the girls imply that they'd love to live in New York City. When Mr. Deming offers Kate much more than the hotel is really worth, Kate reluctantly accepts his offer. Kate tells the girls that the hotel is sold and they are upset. Despite what they said, they don't want to move from the Shady Rest and Hooterville. The problem is that Kate verbally promised Mr. Deming that she wouldn't back out of the deal. Joe tries to figure out a way to have Mr. Deming want to back out, but nothing works. Mr. Deming actually comes up with a reason to not buy the hotel.