Jo visits the Froebrich family in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Beverly and Erich have five children: Emily is 11, Emmett is 9, Emma Jo is 7, Emerson is 4, and Ember is 1½. The kids fight constantly, hit, pinch, and do any kind of bodily harm. Homework and studying for tests is a disaster and it brings 9-year-old Emmett to tears. Beverly's mother, Barbara, lives with the family since her husband, Victor, passed away and considers Beverly to be a control freak, and the stress of Beverly's father's death has gotten worse. Beverly doesn't discipline the kids, but Erich uses a wooden spoon, the belt, and his bare hand to spank the kids along with pulling their ears and putting hot sauce on their tongues, and neither of the parents' discipline works at all. Can Jo get this family to drop the facade and convince Beverly and Erich that there is another way before it's too late?
