Earl, still in prison, where the motto is now "Honk If You Know Someone On Death Row." Earl crosses days off a calendar and explains to Randy that he's working out how much time he has left on his sentence with all the deductions the warden has given him. Earl has done a lot of tasks for the warden, including cleaning all the hair out from the prison showers. The resulting hairball looks like the one they took out of that girl's stomach (and that link is not for the squeamish).

Earl walks into the warden's office just as Warden Coach is shutting his tie in his office safe. But that's not his problem. He explains that, at a recent press conference, "a really tricky reporter tricked me with his tricky trickiness." At the press conference, being given by Governor Mrs. Warden Coach, a reporter asks Warden Coach what his plans are for turning around the problems in the prison. Warden Coach has got nothing. The reporter points out that a nearby prison introduced a reconciliation program. Hey, I saw how well that worked on Oz, which is to say, not at all. Anyway, Warden Coach agreed to do it, and he needs Earl's help. He promises that if Earl can make the reconciliation program work, he'll get six months off his sentence, which means he would be out in ten days.

Earl and Randy pore through the prison records to find the right guy for the reconciliation program. Earl comments that he doesn't understand aggravated assault, since all assault is aggravated. Randy recounts how he once hugged a baby duck to death, which was fun until it was sad. Tell me about the rabbits, George. Earl picks a prison named John Clevenger (Shawn Hatosy), who is an artist and a first-time offender. We flash back to John's crime. He was busy creating a painting in his parents' house when his meth lab caught on fire and he burned his parents' house down.

Earl goes to visit John, who is working on a painting of his own head on an eagle's body, which is really disturbing. John insists that the fire was an accident, and Earl says, "No one makes meth with anything but the best intentions." Earl explains that he wants John to sit down with his parents, discuss what happened, and finish up with an apology and a big hug. John doesn't think his parents will agree, but he's in.

At Earl's behest, Joy visits John's parents to convince them to meet with their son. John's parents have outfitted their house with all manner of fire safety equipment: extinguishers, safety ladders, and the like. Joy has an amazing hairrpiece in this week; it's all crimped and curly. Papa and Mama John aren't into it. Darnell relates the story of how his turtle knocked over a candle recently and started a fire, and their relationship was strained for a while, but they worked through it. Papa John is moved to tears by the tale, and Mama John thanks Darnell and agrees to meet with John.