So it’s Maya’s birthday and Riley has decided to give her BFF a friendship ring. After gifting the ring, Maya reveals to Riley that her mom had forgotten her birthday and left for work before she even woke up, which had upset Riley. Meanwhile, Shawn comes to visit the Matthews because he is doing a photo project, “New York on less than $100″ and asks Cory if he can crash there for the weekend. Upon seeing Shawn bonding with Maya, Riley has an idea which she wants to consult with her parents about. They go to Riley’s room to talk, leaving Shawn and Maya in the living room. Riley proposes that her dad revisit his scheming days with her which is when he stated in a Godfather-like demeanor that his scheming days were over. However, he gave her one minute to wow him. It was then that Riley tells his parents that she wanted Shawn to be Maya’s dad. Cory was into it so he helps Riley. To do this, they had Lucas tie up Maya with a rope so that she couldn’t go anywhere. Then they plotted to get Shawn to meet Katie, hoping that they will date.
When Shawn hears from Maya that her mom forgot her birthday, he asks Cory if he knew that. Cory said that was why he bought Maya a cake but Shawn felt that that wasn’t enough. So Shawn goes down to the diner where Katie worked and told her she wasn’t being a very good mom by ditching her daughter on her birthday. All the while, Cory and Riley are watching them from behind menus at the diner but they left when they heard Shawn and Katie arguing and felt like they had failed. Riley goes home & reveals to Maya that they sent Shawn to meet her mom. Maya freaked out because she was afraid her mom was going to drive Shawn away the way she had driven her dad away. Maya had grown to like her bond with Shawn since they were living similar lives where people they love tend to leave them. Shawn later discovers that Katie was working because she was trying to buy a locket for her daughter’s birthday but she was still $50 short so Shawn paid for it. Shawn also forced her to tell Maya that it wasn’t Katie who drove her dad away and that it was he who left on his own. Katie felt that Maya should have good thoughts about her dad even though he left but Shawn felt that Maya should have good thoughts about the parent who stayed. The episode ends with Riley tied up with a rope and apologizing to Maya for tying her up.